This narrative is perfectly intelligible and no forced construction is needed to explain the dates mentioned in the record. The temple was first built in M. E. 493 (=437 A. C.) during the reign of Bandhuvarman. Bandhuvarman's father Viśvavarman was ruler of Dasapura during the imperial rule of KumāraGupta I. Mr. Jayaswal in a note in the Indian Antiquary for November 1917 believes on the evidence of the Mudra-Rakshasa that Bandhuvarman, during his youth, was in the court of Chandra-Gupta, father of Kumara-Gupta I. It is possible that this event marks the turning point in the history of Malwa whose former rulers had been independent sovereigns. The Mandasor inscription proves that it was Viśvavarman who first acknowledged the overlordship of the Gupta Emperor; for in the Gangdhar inscription ( Fleet, Gupta Ins., page 72) of 480 (421 A. C.) he is described as an independent sovereign and there is evidently a reference to his successful resistance of the Gupta forces. The conquest of Malwa by the Guptas has, therefore, to be dated between 424 and 437 A. C.9 It must have been accomplished by Kumāra Gupta I succeeded Chandra-Gupta in 413 A. C. explain why Kumara-Gupta is specially mentioned in the Mandasor inscription of 529 M. E., and not the then Gupta Emperor whose hold over Malwa at that time is doubtful, as the death of Skanda-Gupta was followed by a disruption of the empire and the outlying province of Malwa may be inferred to have been one of the first to take advantage of the weakness of the central government brought about by the attacks of the Pushyamitras and the Hūņas. This is also borne out by numismatic evidence.10 As such it does not appear reasonable to hold that Kumāra-Gupta II was overlord of Malwa 8 यः शक्यते न रिपुभिर्भयविहला क्षैरुदीचितुं क्षणमपि प्रगृहीतशस्त्रः 11. 9-10. Mr. K. P. Jayaswal, on the evidence of the Jaina Harivaṁsa Purāņa by Jinasena (8th century A. C.) dates the decline of Gupta power in Malwa after 431 A, C, Kumāra-Gupta's conquest must, therefore, have been only short-lived. Ind. Ant. 1917, p. 148. as the latter This would 10 V. Smith, Early History of India, p. 311; Allan, Gupta Coins, p. XLIX, in 529 M. E., and consequently the identification of the KumāraGupta mentioned in the Sarnath inscription with Kumāra-Gupta named in the Mandasor record is untenable. The non-mention of the ruling king in this inscription to which Mr. Panna Lall draws attention in his paper, need not be emphasized to prove his identification. The history of Malwa in this period is not well known. It is quite possible that in the troublous times during the Hūņa invasions and the Pushyamitra wars Malwa passed into a kingless country and the guild of silkweavers at Dasapura had to find funds for repairing the most important religious edifice in their city; as otherwise the expenditure on the maintenance of religious shrines was borne by the State in Hindu times.11 That such was the state of the country round Daśapura at the time we are considering may be surmised-although it remains to be supported by other evidence -from the subsequent history of the country and its occupation by Toramana in circa. 484 A. C. 11 Compare also the date (431 A. C.) given by Jinasena for the decline of the Gupta power in Western India. Ind. Ant, 1917, p, 148. II. Further Note on the Use of the Swallow-worts in the Rituals of the Hindus. By Sarat Chandra Mitra, M.A., B.L. In my previous paper entitled "On the 'se of the Swallowworts in the Ritual, Sorcery and Leechcraft of the Hindus and Pre-Islamitic Arabs" which has been published in The Journal of the Bihar and Orissa Research Society for June 1918, I have discussed the uses to which the swallow-worts (Calotropis gigantea and C. procera) are put in the rain-compelling ceremonies of the Hindus and the Pagan Arabs, as also in the wedding and agricultural ceremonies of the former. I have also shown that this plant was largely used by the Hindus in nefarious sorcery and in the concoction of various nostrums or folk-medicines for the cure of scorpion-stings, dog-bites, earache, toothache, elephantiasis and white leprosy. I have also given the Sanskrit texts and the English translations of ten incantations or charms used by them in black magic, and of eight recipes or prescriptions for the concoction of nostrums for the cure of the aforementioned ills that the human flesh is heir to. Incidentally, I have also discussed the supposed characteristics or influences of the 27 lunar asterisms as are set forth in Hindu astrology : 1.-The Use of the Flowers of the Swallow-worts in the Worship of the Sun-deity. In the present paper, I shall deal with the deities of the Hindu Pantheon in whose worship the swallow-wort (Calotropis) is used. I have already stated in my previous paper that Dr. Dymock says, though without authority, that, in the Vedic Period, the leaves of the swallow-wort were used in the worship of the Sun. But the following text in Sanskrit shows that the flowers of the arka (Calotropis) were and are still employed in the worship of the Sun-deity : : मल्लिका मालती चैव दुर्व्वाशोकातिमुक्तकम् । पाटला करवौरश्च जया पावन्तिरेवच । तुलसी कामतुलसी तथा रक्तश्च चन्दनम् । Translation. The Sun-deity should be worshipped with (the offerings of the undernoted flowers, namely,) mallika [Arabian jasmine (Jasminum sambac)], mālatī (Echites caryophyllata), (the grass) dūrvā (Cynodon dactylon ), ( the flowers of the ) asoka (Jonesia asoka), atimuktaka or madhavi-latā [the Creeping Chestnut ( Hiptage madablota )], pāta ā (Bignonia suaveolens), karavīra or the oleander (Nerium odorum), jaya or jayanti (Sesbania aculeata), pavanti or pāribhadraka or pārijāta, kūtaja or girimaitikā, tagara or the East Indian Rose -bay (Tabernamontana coronari‹), karnikāra, kuruntaka (Barleria spp.), champaka (Michalia champaka), bakula (Mimusops elengi), kunda (Jasminum pubescens), sala ( Shorea robusta ), barbara mailikā (a kind of jasmine), asoka ( it may be another kind of flower), tilaka (Clerodendron phlomoides), lodhra (Symplocos racemosa), atarushaka or vāsaka (? Adhatoda vasica), padma (the lotus), raka (Agati grandiflora ), arka or ākanda, agastya and palās (Butea frondosa). Offerings of the leaves of the bael tree (Ågle marmelos ), samī tree (? Prosopis juliflora), bhringa răja tree, tu asi or the sacred basil (Ocymum sanctum), kīlatulasī or the black basil and red sandalwood-paste should also be made to the Sun-deity. II. The Use of the Flowers of the Swallow-worts in the In the Bhavishya Purana, the following passage occurs which shows that the flowers of the arka or akanda (Calotropis gigantea) were and are still used in the worship of the deity Mahadeva or Śiva : १. चार्क पुष्पसहस्र भ्यः करवीरं प्रशस्यते । 2. AMCWHYAINYEJani; am:ezat: 1 Translation. 1. [In the worship of (the deity) Śiva], one karavīra (Nerium odorum) flower is (considered) more valuable than one thousand flowers of the arka or akanda plant (Calotropis gigantea). (In other words, much more merit is acquired by worshipping Śiva with the offering of only one karavīra or oleander-flower than is done by worshipping the same deity with the offering of one thousand akanda or Calotropis flowers). 2. (The offering of) the leaves of the bael tree (Egle marmelos) is productive of greater merit than (the offering of) one thousand karavīra or oleander-flowers. 3. (In the worship of Śiva, the offerings of the flowers of the jātī (Jasminum grandiflorum), bakula (Mimusops elengi) and patala (Bignonia suaveolens) produce the same amount of merit (as that of) kar vīra flowers. 4. (The offerings of) the flowers of the sveta mandāra (Erythrina alba), and of the white lotus (Nelumbium speciosum) (also) produce the same kind of merit. 5. (In the worship of Śiva, the offerings of) the flowers of the nagachampaka (Mesua ferrea), punnāga or pulina (Calophyl lum inophyllum), the dhūturā or thorn-apple (Datura stramonium |