life Nang Phakavadi, reviving her (by the ceremony of Xub).* May my fame spread about in eminent renown like that of Phra Noray (Nárayana or Vishnu), who, coming down from heaven (ravan), was born in the state of man as Phra-Ram (Ráma) and subjected the Sack (Rakshasa) of Langká, walking through the air like Phra Tsun in Kailása. And then I wish to become a king and to get crowned, and to have nine handsome ladies as queens on my side, and to reign one hundred thousand years. And furthermore I pray for great strength and for beauty like that possessed by Phra Chan (Chandra or the moon) in times of old. May I possess prowess and a valiant heart, like Phra-Ram, the celestial one. I pray for wisdom to understand the Sinlaprasat, to know the whole of the military arts and warlike exercises like the exalted Phra-Ram, to be expert like him in archery. When this existence will be finished, may I be re-born the son of a king. May I ascend to heaven like Phra Ketsamalea,† May I be favoured by Phra-Ta (Tadra). May he give orders to PhraPhutsakam (Visvakarma) to build for me also a royal residence of unparalleled splendour on the edges of the forest. May my voice be a

May my wisdom

melodious one like that of the bird Karavek. expand. May I know all things and everything. May I become rich in silver and gold, in gems and precious stones. May I have abundance in clothes, in carpets, in pillows and dresses. May my retinue be formed by handsome ladies, graceful in figure and soft and delicate of colour, with legs of the shape of the Talaket flower. May I understand the whole sense of the Trai Pidock.‡ May I, always revelling in favourable breezes, in the twinkling of the eye, hit the right to be safe. May I never lose my knowledge, should even my body shuddering tremble in fear. May my friends be one hundred one thousand in

The magic art of Xub, which revives by sprinkling with enchanted water, is taught in the high academy of Takkasila (Taxasila); and it is an always recurring trait in the Indo-chinese romances, that young princes or the sons of wealthy Sethi travel to that famous city, to pass there some years as students. Another, but more dangerous method, in which fire takes the place of water, is known to the Rasi or Rischi, the hermits of the forest. The last king of Nokhon Tom, whom they offered to cure of leprosy, lost his life during the process.

+ Phra-Ketsamalea (the head crowned with garlands) is the reputed founder of the splendid temple of Nakhon Vat. The legend makes him to be a son of Indra, and relates that his heavenly father sent Visacarma, the architect of the gods, to build on earth a palace after the model of that in which the angels pass their joyful lives.

The Buddhistic Scriptures are contained in the three parts of the Pitaka, the Abhidhamma, the Vinaya and the Sútra.

number. May I remain undisturbed in unceasing bliss. May youths, male and female, of handsome appearance, attend on me, 100,000 in number, singing melodiously in sweet voices. May I possess wealth in elephants, horses, buffaloes and oxen of the best kind, elegant carriages and swift boats, to use them in going abroad. I would be pleased if each of my followers carried a glittering sword, and, when they close up in procession, they should solemnly walk like Putpala. Thus it is becoming. May I be favoured with magnificent palaces, nine of them, all covered with gold. Let them have high towering spires* rising above, glittering with jewels; let them be surrounded by colonnades, winding in three circles; let them be engraved everywhere with sculptures. On each gate have placed the Dragon king (Phaya Nokh),—place him on each step of the stairs to guard them. There must be adjoined three dwelling-houses, handsomely and finely got up. The roof must ascend in three terraces, above each other, and all embellished with splendid ornaments. The round houses also may shine in splendid ornaments. A stable for

elephants has to be built, nice and clean. Let there be halls on both sides of the lake, one at the right, the other one at the left, and have them decorated with garlands of the Champa-flowers, exhaling a sweet perfume, like the scented powder of Kracheh. That is all.

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

Professor J. G. Bühler of the Elphinstone College, Bombay, and R. West, Esq. C. S. Acting Judge of Canara, have just brought out the First Book of "a Digest of Hindu Law," from the replies of the Çástris in the several courts of the Bombay Presidency. The volume before us contains a large mass of responsa prudentum in a variety of practical cases regarding the Hindu Law of inheritance as current in Bombay. It has been published under the auspices of the Bombay Government, and will prove a useful book of reference to lawyers. In the Introduction the editors have given an interesting account of the ancient Smritis.

The Government of Bombay has sanctioned the publication of an edition of the Apastamba Dharma Sútra with the Tíká of Hara Datta. The work will be carried through the press under the editorship of Dr. G. Bühler.

The description of the wished for palace is taken from the example of that one in which the inscription was hung up, viz. the temple of Nakhon Vat.

A new translation of the Sakuntala of Kálídása, by Professor Foucaux of the French Academy, has just been published in Paris. The work has been got up in imitation of Professor Williams's excellent edition of the same work, and is intended to popularise among French readers that master-piece of the Indian Drama,

The publication of the Taittiriya Sañhitá of the Black Yajur Veda has once again been brought to a stop. Dr. Roer, who first undertook this work, left India on account of ill-health after publishing only five fasciculi. On his return to this country, press of official duties prevented his resuming the task, and it was therefore made over to Mr. E. B. Cowell. That gentleman succeeded in the course of three years to publish fourteen hundred pages, when ill health obliged him to retire from India. Pandita Rámanáráyana Vidyaratna, who succeeded him and brought out the first fasciculus of the 3rd volume, died in May last, after a protracted illness of six months. He was a Sanskrit scholar of a high order, and was earnestly devoted to the ancient literature of his country. He published several Bengali books, and edited, for the Bibliotheca Indica, the Vedánta Sútras with the Commentary of Sankara, and the Srauta Stúra of Aswalayana.

We have to record the death of another Sanskrit scholar of great eminence; Paudita Premachandra Tarkavágiça died at Benares on the 14th of April last. He was Professor of Rhetoric in the Sanskrit College of Calcutta for over thirty years, and was esteemed as the most profound scholar of his time. He was the only Bengali Pandita who had made the Prákrita language a subject of critical study. Among his works may be noticed the commentary on the great epic of Kavirája, the Raghava pandaviya, every verse of which had to be explained so as to form once a history of the race of Raghu and once that of the Pándavas. His commentaries on the first half of the Naishada Charita, and those on the Sakuntalá, the Uttararáma Charita, the Anargharághava, the Chátupushpanjali, the Mukunda-muktávali, the Saptasati-sára, and the 8th chapter of the Kumárasambhava are well known. the Bibliotheca Indica he edited the Kávyádarça of Crí Dandin with an original commentary. He has left unpublished a Sanskrit Dictionary, and four Cantos of a poetical life of Sáliváhana, from whom dates the Çaka era of India.

For

JOURNAL

OF THE

ASIATIC SOCIETY.

PART I. HISTORY, LITERATURE, &c.

No. II.-1867.

Notes on Sirajuddaulah and the town of Murshidábád, taken from a Persian Manuscript of the Tárikh i Mançúrí.—By II. BLOCHMANN, Esq., M. A.

[Received 21st December, 1866.]

About two months ago, a copy of the above work was forwarded to me for examination by the Philological Committee of our Society. The book had only lately been handed over to the Rev. James Long by the Nawab Nazir Sayyidí Dáráb 'Alí Khán Bahádur of Murshidábád, for transmission to the Asiatic Society in London. The author is a Shi'ah of the name of Sayyid 'Alí, a friend of the Nawab Názir, and evidently a man of erudition. He seems also to have received some support and encouragement from Major G. Hall Macgrigor, C. B., political agent at Murshidábád in 1842.

The book is dedicated to the Nawab Sayyid Mançúr 'Alí Khán Bahadur Nucrat Jang with the following remark:

و این هدیه محقر که از قبیل هدیه آوردن صور است پاي ملخي نزد عمان لیکن سليمان عليه السلام و تحفه آوردن سحاب است قطره را بسوي توقع کوچکان دل غمگین از زینت دهندگان تاج و نگین چنین بوده و می باشد که در معرض قبول در آورند .

. شعره

تو سليماني كن اي والا نژاد . نملة جاءت برجل من جراد فان تشرف بشرف القبول فهو غاية المنى ونهاية المامول . و این کتاب موسوم

2

Although this contemptible gift resembles the present of the ant that brought the leg of a locust to Sulaiman (blessings be upon him!), or the drop of water which a cloud carried towards the ocean of 'Omán-yet insignificant people in their heart's anguish have hoped, and hope still, that it will find a place of acceptance with those who shed their lustre over sceptre and crown.

It's but a locust's leg which I can bring,

O act like Sulaiman, most noble king!

My only object and my highest aim

Is that this gift may your acceptance claim.

I have given to this book the title of Táríkh i Mançúrí."

The book itself is a compilation made from Farishtah, the Siyar i Mutaakharín, the Riyász ussaláțín, &c., but it contains also some original matter obtained from the inhabitants of Murshidábád. I have extracted the greater part, at least the more important items, of that which is new, and have added some extracts regarding the celebration of the Muharram in Murshidábád and a short description of the raft of Khiszr.

As the author has used Vansittart's memoirs for the events after the death of Sirajuddaulah, it would be useless to give extracts. Nor are the other chapters of the book of much interest. The author commences with Noah and the kings of the descendants of Hám, from whom the Hindoos originated, and then gives a short account of the kings of Delhi. A short geographical sketch of Bengal, Bahár and Orissa follows, as also a chronicle of Murshidábád. After mentioning the Hindoo princes who reigned in Bengal, he gives a brief history of the Governors and Nawabs of Bengal up to Sirájuddaulah. The last chapters contain a list of the Nawab Názims from Mír Muhammad Ja'far to the present time, and of their children and servants; a description of their palace and the houses which they built, and of those which are now in ruins from want of repairs; and also some notes regarding their genealogy which is traced to Husain-subjects of interest for the Nawabs only.

Those who feel a particular interest in the following extracts, may compare them with Orme's History of the Military Transactions of the British, Vol. II, p. 139, Mill's British India (3rd edit.) Vol. III, p. 160, and Thornton's British India, Vol. I, p. 218.