In the first place acknowledgments are due to M. Kuli Khan, lately Naib-Tahsildar at Sarwekai, who at my request took down these songs from the lips of the singers, and gave me an Urdu translation of them, which is in the main distinguished by insight and accuracy, and secondly to Mr. Lorimer's Grammar and Vocabulary of Wazīrī Pashtu (Government Press, Calcutta, 1902), without which I should have been unable to trace many of the words used in these songs.

The historical notices concerning the poet Ṭufail al-Ḡanawī are exceedingly scanty. Al-Aṣma'ī states that he was the most ancient poet of the tribes of Qais 'Ailān, and that he was older than an-Nābiḡa. This assertion, which is frequently repeated, may be accounted for by the little knowledge about his life which had come down to the grammarians of al-BaṢra and al-Kūfa; it can, however, hardly be correct, when we consider the few historical facts wrhich I have been able to gather. His name and genealogy is, with slight variations, given on the authority of Ibn al-Kalbī, the same as in the introduction to the poem: Abū Qirān Ṭufail b. 'Auf b. b. Ḍubais b. Mālik b. Sa'd b. 'Auf b. Ka'b b. Jillān b. Ka'b b. Ḡanm b. Ḡanī b. A'ṣur b. Sa'd b. Qais (b.) 'Ailān b. Muḍar.

By the courtesy of the Rev. G. E. White, of the American College at Marsovan, I have been permitted to copy a fragment of a Hittite cuneiform tablet which was picked up at Boghaz Keui, the northern capital of the Hittites. The tablet was of red clay, and must have been of large size. What remains of it is 3 centimetres thick, 8 cm. in length, and 5 cm. in breadth, and originally formed the left-hand portion of the central part of the tablet. The characters of the text resemble those of the so-called ‘Yuzgât’ tablet published by Dr. Pinches and myself, which really came, not from Yuzgât, but from Boghaz Keui. The subjectmatter of the two texts also seems to have been similar.

In the April number of the Journal (p. 413, ante), Mr. A. M. T. Jackson published a brief note stating that “the name Vyāghramuśa, read by Mr. V. A. Smith on one of his White Hun coins (see p. 95 of the January number of the Journal), is no doubt ‘Śrī Vyāghramukha of the Śrī Chāpa dynasty,’ under whom wrote the astronomer Brahmagupta.” I accept the correction in the reading of the name, which is clearly right. Not being previously familiar with the history of the Śrī Chāpa dynasty, I asked Mr. Jackson to explain his meaning. This he has kindly done, giving me references, which enable me to pursue the subject further. The shabby little coin which I published opens up side issues of considerable interest, which are worth following up.

The last few years have seen the successful application to so many forms of religious belief of theories which at first sight appear to have no support in Vedic myth or ritual, that it is natural to ask whether this apparent peculiarity of Vedic religion is real or not, or whether there exist in the ritual as preserved traces of beliefs and practices which reveal a state of religious thought older than that presented to us in the main body of the ritual.

The alleged influence of Christianity on the early development of Hinduism has long been a subject of investigation and controversy. Weber summed up in a masterly manner all that had been said for the one side; while with equal acumen Barth criticised and denied his conclusions. The discussion has had the effect of restricting the controversy to two points, both connected in the main with the worship of Kṛishṇa. The first relates to the Hindu doctrine of faith, or bhakti, as an essential condition of salvation, and has been dealt with by Dr. Grierson in a recent number of this Journal. The second refers to the origin of the child Kṛishṇa, his legend, and his cult, and is the subject of the present essay.

In view of the inevitable delays which must always attend the publication of lengthy and illustrated reports in India, it was suggested to me a short time ago by the Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society that it would serve a useful purpose if I contributed to the Journal, from year to year, an account of the chief discoveries made by the Archæological Department in India. It is particularly satisfactory to respond to this suggestion at the present juncture, not only because the prospects of systematic and steady work in the field of exploration are brighter now than they have ever yet been, but also because the particular season that has just gone by has been more than usually productive of interesting results. My only regret is that it is not possible to present these results in a more adequate form. Government orders, however, permit only the publication of very short preliminary accounts in European journals, and I must be content, therefore, to give the following brief summary, referring the reader who wishes for further information to the descriptive accounts of the discoveries which will appear in due course in our official reports.

Certain well-known coins from the Panjāb (see the second part of this article), of which some present a Greek legend only and others present Greek legends on the obverse with legends in an Indian dialect and in the Kharōshṭhī or Kharōshṭrī characters on the reverse, give us a king whose name is not written quite in agreement in the two classes of legends. The Indian legends give the genitive Moasa, and yield the name Moa. The Greek legends give the genitive Mauou. The nominative of the Greek name may have been either Mauos, Mauas, or Mauēs. The last-mentioned form appears to be the one which has met with general approval.