In Part I of this paper, the status of case in proto-Arabic was examined in the light of comparative Afroasiatic, comparative Semitic and the treatment of case among the earliest Arabic grammarians. The thesis was developed that a caseless variety of Arabic is prior to a case-based one. It was argued that there is comparatively little support for deriving a proto-Arabic case system from a pan-phylic or even a pan-family case system. Furthermore, various interpretive problems relating to case among the earliest grammarians were alluded to. These included the possibility that the earliest Arabic grammatical terminology for inflectional endings may imply the existence of caseless varieties of Arabic, and the difficulty of deriving the caseless forms such as are found in modern dialects from pausal forms of the classical language.

This paper is a meditation from a religious studies perspective on the twelfth-century Vīraśaiva saint, Basava (c. 1105–68); that is, its primary focus is religious experience rather than literary evaluation or the historicity of the past. By exploring a variety of sources—ancient and modern, fact and fiction—and by making connections with urgent twentieth-century concerns, it seeks to bring into focus the religious aspirations and social implications of Basava's world. Part 1 is derived from history and hagiography. It provides an outline of Vīraśaiva belief and practice, and then proceeds to discuss the religious context of twelfth-century Karnataka, the debate regarding the origins of this ‘new’ religion, and a key inscription in the debate. It ends with a summary of the tradition's account of Basava's life. Part 2 focuses on a play written in Kannada (Taledaṇḍa, ‘Death by beheading’, 1990) and then rewritten in English for a pan-Indian and international audience (Talé-Daṇḍa: a play, 1993), in both cases by Girish Karnad. Karnad is not the first playwright to focus on Basava, and he will not be the last. In the preface to the Kannada version, he explains that ‘it becomes inevitable for every Kannadiga to return, like a tongue that returns again and again to a painful tooth, to the victories and agonies of that period.’ Karnad's dramatization of Basava's catastrophic final year is discussed in the context of the historical and hagiographical material considered in Part 1.

The Secret History of the Mongols (Yuanchao bishi) tells us that, after the invasion and conquest of Qipchaq and Rus'lands in 1237–40, Qagan Ögödei placed ‘daruγačin and tammačin’ over peoples whose main cities were Ornas, Saḳsīn, Bulgar and Kiev.

The Xinjiang People's Publishing House recently produced a series of booklets on the historical characters of Xinjiang. Included among the accounts of the region's heroes and heroines are the stories of some five hakim-begs, the local chief administrators during the Qing. They have all won inclusion in this series for demonstrations of loyalty to their Manchu conquerors and assistance rendered in the suppression of revolt against the Chinese empire. Heavily edited as these accounts may be, historical evidence of the hakims' co-operation with their conquerors is irrefutable.

When the Aceh War finally broke out in 1873 it did not come as a surprise to most contemporaries. In colonial historiography Aceh, a ‘nest of pirates’, according to the Dutch, had obviously precipitated the war by its ‘treason’ in turning to Turkey, America and other foreign powers for support against the Dutch. The discussions with the American consul in Singapore early in 1873 on a possible Acehnese-American treaty constituted a casus belli in the eyes of the Dutch.

Prostration (sujūd) is a fundamental part of the ritual prayer (ṣalāt). It is the highest form of religious devotion and is often mentioned in the Quran as well as in many traditions from all genres of Muslim literature. Prostration is also mentioned in some traditions in relation to what Muslim sources define as sujūd al-shukr, i.e., literally, ‘the thanksgiving prostration’. This is a voluntary act of devotion consisting of a prostration performed by the believer when he wants to thank God for some blessing. There is an abundance of evidence concerning this kind of prostration and it will be discussed here.

There can be little doubt that the stem of the Common Semitic cardinal numeral ‘nine’ is to be reconstructed as *tiš'-.

Among the Modern South Arabian languages, however, we find a set of forms for this numeral which, while clearly reminiscent of those of the remaining Semitic languages, are remarkable for (a) the absence of the initial *ti- and (b) the presence of the sibilant s rather than the expected *š (Johnstone, 1975:23).

Sěrat Cabolek is a problematical but very interesting work concerning the court of Kartasura in the reign of Pakubuwana II. It tells of a religious controversy which became the subject of debate at the court, involving some of the most important figures in the realm, including the young king himself.