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These finds are interesting as showing the intercourse which existed in Medieval times between Chota Nagpur and the neighbouring States. Khukra was a former capital of the Rajas of Chota Nagpur, and from the "Akbar-nama " and "Tuzuk-iJahangiri appears to have been the name by which Chota Nagpur was then known to Muhammadan writers. 1

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The entire collection of articles of antiquaria interest collected by the Society has been formally made over to the Provincial Museum. Several old sculptures besides a number of mineral specimens from this province and objects of ethnographical interest have since been added to the Museum collection. A beautiful polished stone statue of a female carrying a whisk (chamar) and possessing the distinctive polish, the naturalness and other characteristics that we associate with Mauryan sculpture has been recently found at Dedarganj near Patna City and is now in the Patna Museum. The statue was brought to light by the erosion of the bank of the Ganges in the flood of last October, which partly uncovered the roughly hewn square base of the statue. This was seen by the son of the landlord of the locality, who had it dug out, thinking it to be an ordinary stone which would be useful for domestic purposes. As the digging proceeded, the fact of its being a statue was revealed. It is interesting to note that a story was at once started to account for the discovery of the statue as miraculous; that a snake had been seen going into a hole in the bank of the river, and that, on the hole being dug out, the snake was found to have disappeared, and the statue was there in its stead! Our thanks are due to Professor Samaddar for having brought the discovery of this statue to my notice, so that steps were at once taken to obtain it for the Museum. Dr. Spooner has promised to write a paper on this statue in the Journal. This statue, like the finds of Dr. Spooner at Kumrahar and Bulandibagh, forcibly brings home to us the fact that every day we are treading on ground which may cover archaeological and other remains of great historical importance. This is true not

"The Mundas and their Country," by Sarat Chandra Roy, M.A., B. I., p.151.

only of this City but of the whole of Bihar. Even if most of us cannot take up the spade and seek to unearth the valuable remains of the past, we may each of us in our own way help forward the aims of the Society by giving information and other assistance to actual workers. All that we have to do is to walk Information as to the existence

with our eyes and ears open.

of old coins, old inscriptions on rocks and copper-plates, and valuable manuscripts may be communicated by every member.

Any member who may come across any legend or interesting folk-tale may assist by communicating it to the Society. Old family chronicles, too, may be of interest to History or Ethnology and may usefully be forwarded to the Council of the Society for publication of the whole or such portions as may be considered suitable.

Judges, Magistrates and Lawyers can also send notes on peculiar customs that come within their notice, such as the note on the Naek caste sent by Mr. T. S. Macpherson which appeared in the March Number of the Journal,' and by Mr. FriendPereira on Traces of the Couvade among the Kui of the Khondmals and the Mālē of Rajmahāl, in the Journal of 1915.

Members can also assist by sending photographs of local objects of archæological, architectural or historical interest.

I am sorry to say that the Society is losing Babu Sarat Chandra Roy as Secretary; as he finds that he needs more time. to concentrate on his researches into the Asur burial sites in Chota Nagpur and his Ethnological inquiries regarding the Birhors and other aboriginal tribes, which also require him to be away from Patna. Babu Sarat Chandra Roy has been the Honorary Secretary since the institution of the Society and we are all indebted to him for the time and trouble that he has devoted to the Secretary's duties. We look forward to his further investigations in the above subjects.

1 J. B. U. R. S., Vol. III., page 164.

2 J. B. O. R. S., Vol. I, page 275.

LEADING ARTICLES.

I.-Gazetteer Literature in Sanskrit.

By Mahamahopadhyaya Hara Prasad Shastri, M.A., C.I.E.

In the last Annual Meeting of the Society I announced the existence of a work in Sanskrit of the gazetteer class written about 250 years ago in this Eternal City. The interest it roused made me examine the whole of the gazetteer class literature during the course of the year, and I am giving you to-day the result of that examination.

The work written at Patna is really a gazetteer. It was written under the patronage of a Chouhan Jagirdar of four parganas round Patna on both sides of the Ganges. He employed a learned Brahman, named Jagamohan, to give him a description of the fifty-six countries in which the then known world of the Hindus was divided. The work is in the form of an interlocution between Dulala Vaijala or Deva Vaijala, the patron, and Jagamohan, the compiler. The patron died in the year 1650 A. D. This date is given in three different eras, namely, Saka, Samvat and Kali Yuga. Saka 1572, Kali Yuga 4750 and the Samvat Era is lost. We have "Vikramasya ca" but the chronogram is lost. It may be supposed that by that time the gazetteer of fifty-six countries was either complete or very nearly so. But the death of Vaijala was followed by disorder and the work was neglected. Some parts were lost and the whole was in confusion. The words used in the text are" Chinna, bhinna", etc. Many years after his death, the Maga-Brahmanas or the Magii or the Sākadvipi Brahmanas of the village, which was the home of the Vaijala family, recompiled and revised the fragments available, and in doing so they added the

history of the intervening period. They took ten years to revise the work and the dates when reduced to Christian Era come to 1718 and 1728.

I call this really a work of the gazetteer class. The other works of this class are either khandas or sections of Purāņas, or written by human authors as the narrative of travels of some Pauranic hero. But the Patna work has nothing to do with Purāņas or Pauranic heroes. It is written for the use of contemporaries and contains much useful information about trade, commerce, manufacture, agriculture, history, geography, etc., of the countries. It professes to be based on another work written a century or two before at the request of another member of the Vaijala family, and entitled "VIKRAMASĀGARA". I have got only a few pages of that work, and it seems to me that that work too was written for the benefit of contemporaries and afforded useful gazetteer information.

The Patna work, the name of which is "DESĀVALIVIVRITI" proceeds to give the description of these countries in a perfectly business-like manner. In the preamble it says that it has consulted old works like Vikrama-Sagara, interrogated old and experienced travellers and seen things with its own eyes. This is perfectly scientific and rational. But in this gazetteer for the Hindus, the places of pilgrimage, the holy places and spots figure most prominently. The cities of Gaya and Kamakhya contain long and what would now seem to be intolerably tedious quotations from Puranas and other scriptures about their holy character and about the deities worshipped there and the sacred functions necessary. Barring this the information is absolutely useful and may even now be studied with profit. I will give some instances, the salt-trade of Tamluk in the seventeenth century is given in a short but informing style. The manufacture of cloth of Chandrakonā and other places in the district of Midnapore are touched upon. The forts in different parts of the country have been described in detail, whether mud, stone or brick, whether surrounded by

trees, bamboos or moats. The number of gates is given and also the mode of defence. The population is very often described, sometimes as consisting of Yavanas or Firingis or Brāhmaṇas or Kayasthas or Vaidyas or Navashakhas, or weavers, or traders or Kṣattriyas of different races or Brahmaṇas of different srenis. Sometimes their character is also described in one place it is stated that they were all thieves; one country is described as full of dacoits and murderers. But the most interesting thing is the description of the products and the articles of trade. Sometimes we get most interesting historical information; for instance, it is stated that the city of Midnapore was founded by Medinikara, the author of the Medinikoșa, a lexicon in Sanskrit second only in importance to the Amarakosa, but arranged in a most scientific manner. It is stated that when the Gazetteer work was written, the Bodhi tree at Bodh Gaya used to be embraced by all pilgrims. Probably there was no Śraddha under the tree as prescribed in Tārānātha Tarkavāchaspati's Gaya-Paddhati. The writer and the reviser often name historical persons of eminence, such as the Emperors of Delhi,-Akbar, Jehangir, Shah Jehan, Aurangzib-down to Bahadur Shah. It mentions that Pondicherry was in the hands of the Firingis. It gives a short genealogy of the Mahratta family of Tanjore, of the Ruling Chiefs of Rintambore, of Bundelkhund and other places.

I need not dilate upon the usefulness of this most useful work. But I regret to state that I have not yet been able to lay my hand upon a single complete copy of the work. There are many fragments-fragments from the beginning, fragments at the end, and fragments in the middle. Out of fifty-six countries, one fragment contains 18, another 23, a third 22 and other even smaller numbers, and putting them together it is still far short of fifty-six. The countries described are [1] Anga or Bhagalpore, [2] Sandhideśa between Anga and Gauda (Rajmahal, Pirpainthi and the country around them), [3] Sekharabhumi or Pancaketa, [4] Ramgarh comprising Hazaribagh, Chota Nagpur and the jungle mahals, [5] Kikața or Gaya, [6] Paṭaliputtra, [7] Pundradesa (here described as between Prayaga and Magadha), [8]

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