Indian Antiquary Vol 60

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

Page 32

20
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[JANUARY, 1931
Nirûn. Now the gite of Nirûn is established, and is, therefore, a fixed point. The site of Sehwin has not varied since that time. If from Nirûn de centre a circle be drawn with radius equal to five-sixths of the distance from Niron to Sehw&n, it will be found to pass through the southern end of the Makli hills. Then, Khwarizmi (circa 833) gives the latitude and longitude of Debal as 24° 20' and 920.0', and of Nirûn 68 230-30' and 920-20', respectively. These figures are of no particular value in sc, but they afford an indication of the comparative positions of the two places, viz., that Nirûn lay 50 minutes of latitude north, and 20 minutes of longitude east, of Debal. It will be evident from a reference to a large scale map how closely this fits in with the Assumption that Debal lay near the present site of
Thathah. On p. 125 Mr. Cousens cites Ma's ûdî as stating that Debal was two days' journey from the junction of the Mihran with the sea. In his Muruj al-zahab Ma'sudi writes that the two branches of the Mihrån fall into the sea at Shakara (or Shagara), a town subordinate to Mansara, two days' journey from Debal. It is not quite clear what is meant by two branches entering the see there. But in his later work, the Kitab al-tanbih wa'l ishrdf, he distinctly writes that the river falls into the sea about two farrange from the town of Debal on the coast of Sind; and here he corroborates his predecessor, Ibn Khurdadba, whose work was held in high esti. mation by other Arab geographers.
The useful map prepared by the author (Plate CIII) shows the situation of all the stúpas and the other remains described in the monograph
C. E. A. W. O.
the upper part of medial fare particularly badly. On the first page of the text there are ton such errors, and there are many lines which contain more than one mistake. For example, linee 328 and 333 each contain four mistakes, lines 69 and 271 each have four, line 86 is illegible in two places and line 337 contains & big gap, which makes the line meaningless.
The foreword to the volume refers to the exceptional beauty and accuracy of the manuscript as a reason for deciding to have it reproduced by this process. This is very high praise and may not meet with universal assent. Dr. Hadi Hasan's penman. ship is extremely neat, both in Persian and English, but I doubt whether it would meet with the approval of an Oriental calligraphist, and I do not personally consider his handwriting in English pleasing. As for accuracy, we find the word "gwitness" in foot. note 20 of the very first page as a rendering of Q in the Persian.
The critical methods of the editor of the text do not always seem to be sound. In line 324 the word
appears as follows
از دوستان تو خالی مباد خلوت و شادی از دشمنان تو غائب مباد شیون و ماتم
The footnote shown that other readings are to be
found, ie either of which gives a , عزت and عشره ,
FALIRİ-1-SHIRWÂNI, Diwáx. Edited by HADI
HASAN, PH.D. James G. Forlong Fund, vol. IX. The Royal Asiatic Society, 1929.
This book of only 83 pages constitutes the second part of the work of Dr. Hadi Hasan, dealing with the extant poems of Falaki of Shirwan. The introductory volume was dealt with by me in a review in 1929 and I came to the conclusion that it was a first-rate piece of scholarly work. The present volume contains the actual Persian text of the 1197 couplets, which a critical examination of the available sources by the editor has induced him to regard as the entire existing residuum of the poet's work, together with footnotes detailing the various read. ings and also in some cases explaining difficulties in the original text. References have also been given in the case of numerous quotations fom the Quran in the poem.
It seems to me a great pity that it was decided to have Dr. Hadi Hasan's manuscript copy of the text and his English notes reproduced by a photographic process. This Replika process is singolarly Bl-adapted to the reproduction of an Oriental text. A great many letters are continually left out, either wholly or in part. The robber's !, ); , and
much better sense than yle, which is quite out of place. In line 306 the word of, which is obviously right, has been substituted for the meaning. less us of the Munich MS., but it has not been stated in the footnote whether this is a conjecture or is supported by any authority. In line 347, the opening couplet of the eleventh Qasida, the editor has expunged the at the end of Sols and be u, though the metre of the poem (Munsarih). shows that the is necessary on metrical grounds, just as it is established by the sense. In line 361 a Quranic phrase (L A ) has been overlooked. An examination of the work of Falaki seems to fastify the doubt expressed by Professor Nicholson whether the labour devoted to his poetical remains might not have been more usefully concentrated on some writer more interesting and meritorious. His best poems seem to be the four longest, the three Tarkib-bands (all in the Mupari' metre, the first Akhrab and acatalectic and the other two Akhrab and Makfüf and catalectic), and the tenth Qaşida, which is in the Mujtass metre (Makhbûn and acatalectic). The first line of this Qasida, line 271, contains three errors of the type mentioned before, an alif being completely omitted and , being twice mutilated beyond recognition. Falaki possessed a command over the stock artifice ana technique of the verse-writer in Persian, but his verses show no signs of originality of style or of thought.
R. P. DEWBURST.