Indian Antiquary Vol 62

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

Page 269

DECEMBER, 1933 1
BOOK-NOTICES
247
ENCYCLOPAEDIA MUNDARICA. By J. HOFFMANN, encyclopædia contains, for at present there is no in collaboration with A. van EMELEN. Vols. I-VII, means of reference to a particular subject other than A-J. 10X7; pp. xv, 2145. Patna, Govt. Press, reading through the whole vast work or knowing the 1930-32. Rs. 48.
actual Mundări word relative thereto. Of recent years considerable attention has been
R. L. TURNER, directed towards a group of languages spoken by three or four million people in the mountainous and LIVRO DA SEITA DOS INDIOS ORIENTAIS of Fr. jungle tracts between the Deccan and the Ganges Jacobo Fenicio, S.J. Editod with Introduction valley. These are the Mundā or Kol languages. and Notes by JARL CHARPENTIER, Ph.D. 10X 6 Attempts have been made to show their connection in.; pp. civ x 252. Upsala, 1933. with languages further to the east, with which it Fr. Jacobo Fenicio, who laboured in Southern has been alleged they form a so-called Austro-Asiatic India from 1584 to 1632, when he died at Cochin, group. On the other hand J. Przyluski, in a number appears to have been a man of rare intellectual of brilliant articles, has demonstrated that Sanskrit,
attainments and energy. The discovery that a and Indo-Aryan generally, borrowed at some early valuablo anonymous manuscript in Portuguese pre. period a certain part of their vocabulary from lan. served in the British Museum (Sloane MS. 1820) guages of this family. In these circumstances it was was written by him is due to Prof. Charpentier, who rogrettable that so little material concerning those with the help of Fr. G. Schurhammer ingeniously interesting, but rapidly disappearing, languages had traced its authorship. It is this MS. that has now boon collected. Indeed the only considerable col. been carefully edited with a very full historical oud lection was Campbell's Santali-English Dictionary. bibliographical introduction dealing with the growth But in 1929 thore began to appoor tho Santal Dictio. of European acquaintance with India, and particunary of P.O. Bodding, which marks & considerablo
larly with the early travellers and missionaries who advance on that of Campbell. And now, before have left records relating to its religious and social that has been completed, there has come the exhaus. life. An interesting feature of Prof. Charpentier's tive work of Father Hoffmann on a Mundāri dialect researches has been the identification of Fr. Manoel closely akin to Santali. This work, of which half Barradas as the probable channel through whom the has been published, is both dictionary and oncyclo. information recorded by Fenicio reached, and was paedia. The importance of these long articles both
utilised by, Faria y Sousa, Baldaeus and Ildephonsus. for linguist and for anthropologist cannot be over
The notes alono are & veritable mine of biblio. estimated. Not loss important for both is the
graphical information, and the Index enables the volume of illustrations which has already appeared ;
roador to identify many names that appear in nothing so instructive as this has appeared since Sir
puzzling forms in the Portuguese text. Prof. Goorge Grierson's famous pioneer work in his Bihar Charpentier has rightly appraised the value of this Peasant Life. If in the remote past Indo-Aryan
manuscript, and our only regret is that it has not borrowed from the Munda languages, in more recent
been found practicable to append, as originally times these languages have boon penetrated through
projected, an English translation for the use of those and through with the vocabulary of their Indo
not conversant with Portuguese. Aryan speaking neighbours. In many cases Fr. Hoffmann has indicated this, though there remain & considerable numbor of words certainly of Indo
INDIAN HISTORY POR MATRICULATION, by K. P. Aryan origin which he has left unexplained. On the
MITRA, M.A., B.L. 7X 4 in.; pp. x + 365; other hand ho often makes comparisons with the
20 sketch maps and numerous text illustrations.
Calcutta, Macmillan & Co., 1933. Dravidian languages, Oraon and Tamil. Those have
To give within the limits of a little volume like not much probative value: Oraon is an uncultivated language greatly penetrated by Mundi ele
this & connected survey of the history of the conti. ments, while Tamil cannot safely be used by itself
nent of India from prehistoric times down to the
yoar 1932 is a task before which most scholars would in attempting to establish original connection bet. ween Primitive Mundi and Primitive Dravidian.
quail, and Mr. Mitra deserves commendation for the
degree of success attained. The test of such 4 work No such comparisons will have much value until the
lies chiefly in the discrimination shown in tu selec. comparative grammar of tho Dravidian languages is mado.' Singhalese, which the author classes as
tion of matter for mention; and, on the whole, we
think discretion has been suitably exercised in this Dravidian, is of course Indo-Aryan, though it con
respect. The author has endeavoured to deal im. tains a considerable number of Dravidian and espe
partially with the thorny questions of racial and reli. cially Tamil loanwords.
gious differences that have so largely influenced the In a work of this character and of this high scienti.
history of the continent. The book is not a mere fie value it appears out of place to insert homilies on
List of events and dates; continuity of narretive has Roman Catholic doctrine, such as that on Marriage
boen steadily kept in view, and cultural and econoand Evolution, pp. 193-201, especially whon the
mic conditions have also received attention. The cost of production is borne by Government.
illustrations have been well choson. At the present rate of production we may hope for the conclusion of this great work in a comparatively short timo. When that time comes, may L'OEUVRE DE LA DÉLÉGATION ARCHÉOLOGIQUE EN We ask tho editors to place all readers, and especially AFGHANISTAN (1922-1932): 1, Archéologie boud. anthropologists, under & still further debt of grati. dhique, by J. HACKIN. 10+X 74 in.; pp. 79; tudo by adding a detailed index relating to the im- 61 figures. Tokyo, Maison Franco-Japonaise, mengo mass of anthropological material which the 1933.