In a recent paper Dr. Bloch has made a valuable contribution to knowledge by publishing an edition and translation of the inscription on the colossal statue found at Sāheṭ-Māheṭ by Sir Alexander Cunningham in 1862–63. When Dr. Bloch published this paper he had not read my essay entitled “Kauśāmbī and Śrāvastī.” I have since sent him a copy of my paper, but he still adheres to the view expressed in his. I may therefore deal with Dr. Bloch's statement of opinion as if he had expressly considered my views and had rejected them. I propose in the following pages to defend my position.

Amongst the many interesting places that lie near the old town of Pragjotishpur or Ganhati is Aśwakrāntā, or, as some people call it, Aśwakrāntā. It is called Aśwakrāntā because the route of Krishna is said to have been viâ Aśwakrāntā when he was carrying off his bride, Rukmini (Aśwa ‘horse’ and krāntā ‘passed by’). If it is called Aśwakrāntā, it means the place where the horse was tired; klāntā meaning ‘tired’ or ‘ weary.’ It should also be remembered that r and l are often interchangeable. Compare Sukreshwar, which is often called Sukleshwar. Aśwakrāntā, or Aśwakrāntā, is on the north side of the Brahmaputra, a little to the west of the island of Umananda, which lies in the midst of the mighty Brahmaputra. The people at the temple show you various holes in the rock at Aśwakrāntā, which, they say, are the footprints of Krishṇna's horses. It is at this place that the people bathe during the Asokastami festival, the day when the current of the Brahmaputra is thought to flow backwards, the reverse current being popularly supposed to be the holy Gangā. The origin of the festival is said to be due to Aśwakrāntā having been the bathing-place of Rukminī. This goddess bathed in the river, but was annoyed by people staring at her from the opposite bank, upon which Krishṇa promptly interposed what is now known as the “ Ar parbat” as a screen.

As there is still much uncertainty as to use of these terms, found exclusively, of course, in Mahāyāna texts, I have brought together a series of passages in which the expressions occur, and would venture to draw one or two conclusions from the manner in which they are used.

The Japji is the prayer which must be repeated every morning by all true Sikhs. It was composed by Baba Nanak in advanced years, and gives a brief summary of his idea of God, religion, ethics, and cosmogony. His views on these subjects are found much further expanded in his other compositions incorporated in the Ad Granth. The Sikhs regard the Japji as the key to the teaching of the early Gurus.

At p. 115 of Mr. William Foster's admirable edition of Sir Thomas Roe's Journal of his Embassy to the Court of the Great Mogul, 1615–1619, recently published by the Hakluyt Society, there is an engraving representing (amongst others) the Emperor Jahángír.

Fifteen years ago I read before this Society a paper treating of “the languages of the Early Inhabitants of Mesopotamia,” in which I expressed my conviction that the non-Semitic dialects (for there are at least two closely-allied idioms) spoken in that district, revealed to us by the Babylonian and Assyrian inscriptions, were really languages, and not cryptographies or “allographic systems of writing,” as they were called by those who favoured the theory of the artificial nature of the script employed.

With the kind permission of the Council of the Society, I purpose from time to time to contribute a series of notes on such unpublished or noteworthy coins and seals of Ancient and Mediaeval India as come under my notice; and I shall be greatly obliged to collectors of these objects if they will submit to me at the British Museum any specimens about which they may desire information.

Having procured three manuscripts of this work, I at first proposed to edit the text. But in going through the work for that purpose I soon found that Professor Kielhorn was right in supposing it to be too dependent on Sāyaṇna to deserve publication in full. Under these circumstances Professor Macdonell suggested to me that I should collect all that was of interest in the work. This I have here attempted to do.