has been read by Babu Binoytosh Bhattacharjya, son of Pandit Hara Prasad Shastri, as Chastana, the second of the Western satraps who, according to Ptolemy, was ruling in Kathiawād and Kachh about A.D. 124. As this statue was found in the same Devakula as that of Kanishka the two rulers must have been nearly related. This important identification affords a further reason for thinking that all these statues represent kings and not Yakshas.

An interesting proof of the quickened interest in the history of ancient India is furnished by the controversy regarding Ketubhadra, whose name was read by Mr. Jayaswal in the Hathigumpha inscription and identified with Ketuman, who, according to him, was the son of the king of Kalinga and commander-in-chief of the Kalinga forces and was slain by Bhima on the field of Kurukshetra. Dr. R. C. Mazumdar, in a paper in the Indian Antiquary, expressed doubt regarding the reading of the name, and urged that in any case the passage in the Mahabharata was not correctly translated, that Ketuman was not a Prince of Kalinga but was a Nishāda by birth, and that his forces were no part of the Kalinga army. Mr. B. C. Bhattacharyya supported Mr. Jayaswal's conclusions in a paper in the March number of our Journal. In the September number Dr. Mazumdar has elaborated his argument regarding the meaning of the relevant passage in the Mahabharata and has been answered by Professor Pandeya Jagannatha Prasad. I cannot venture an opinion on the merits of the controversy, but it is all to the good that passages like this which may have an historical value should be subjected to the closest critical examination. There is still a lull in the discovery of copper-plates of which so many were published in the earlier Copper-plates.

numbers of our Journal. We have, however, in the June number a paper by Mahāmahopādbyāya Pandit Hara Prasad Shastri on two copper-plates found in the Bonai State, and another paper by his son, Babu Binoytosh Bhattacharyya, on two from the Daspalla State. One of the copperplates found in Bonai contains the record of a grant by a Rājā named Viuita-Tunga of the Saṇḍilya gotra, a worshipper of

Śiva, whose family came from Rohtasgarh, and who ruled over eighteen tribes of Gonds in the province of Yamaguta. The second is by a Rājā named Udaya Varaha of the Mayura or Bhanja dynasty, the ruler of Talai Maṇḍala and a worshipper of Buddha. Three members of his dynasty are mentioned, but they are all new names and cannot at present be connected with the main line of Bhañja kings who were rulers of Khiñjali, The two grants from Daspalla are both by kings of the latter dynasty, the one being by Raṇabhañja in the twenty-fourth year of his reign, and the other by Neṭabhañja. Two grants by Ranabhanja were already known, but this is the first grant of Netabhañja; and it is interesting as adding another name to the known list of Bhañja kings, which previously ended with that ruler's father. As usual, all four grants were made to Brāhmaṇas. Another grant by Raṇabhañja is described by Mr. B. C. Majumdar in the December number. It was found in the town of Sonpur (Orissa). The grant is inscribed on three substantial copper-plates held together by a ring, to which is attached the king's seal, containing a recumbent bulk surmounted by a crescent,

History.

I have already mentioned Mahāmahopadhyāya Pandit Hara Prasad Shastri's Shastri's paper on the Bonai copper-plate. Another paper by him in the March number gives a very instructive resumé of what is known regarding Pataliputra and Tosali, the ancient capitals of Bihar and Kalinga respectively. A fort was built at Pataliputra in Buddha's time by the general of Ajāta Satru, whose grandson Udayin transferred his capital thither from Rajagṛha. After the decline of Taxila, Pataliputra became the intellectual centre of Northern India and was the home of many famous writers, including Panini and Patanjali. The first collection of the Jaina scriptures was made there in the fourth century B.C., and it was there that Kautilya wrote his great work on statecraft. There also As'oka held the third Buddhist Council, and thence he sent his missionaries to all the surrounding countries. In the fourth century A.D. Pataliputra became

the capital of Samudra Gupta and his successors, but it was in ruins when Hiuen Tsiang saw it in the seventh century. There are a few references to it during the rule of the Pāla kings, and it remained a stronghold of Jainism down to the eighteenth century. Its political importance revived under its modern name of Patna, when the Afghan Emperor, Sher Shah, ereeted a fort there in the sixteenth century. Under the Moghuls it again became the capital of Bihar, and in 1704 was renamed Azimābād after a grandson of Aurangzeb.

Tosali has an even greater antiquity than Pataliputra, but it has been less fortunate in the struggle against the secular vicissitudes. Its very site had been forgotten until the Mahamahopadhyāya identified it with Dhauli, where there is a rock containing one of As'oka's most famous edicts and which is near the Bhubanes' vara temple and the Udayagiri caves. One of these caves (the Hathigumphā, or elephant's cave) contains the famous inscription of Khāravela who ruled in the first half of the second century B.C. Tosali is mentioned in the Mahabharata and was a flourishing city as early as 460 B.C., when Kalinga was subjugated by Magadha. Having recovered its independence, it was again conquered by As'oka; but about a century later its king, Khāravela, in his turn overran Magadha. Soon afterwards Orissa became independent of Kalinga. Inscriptions on copperplates and in the Udayagiri caves show that kings of the Kara dynasty ruled there during the seventh and eighth centuries. Tosali was afterwards included in the dominions of the Somavaṁsī kings of Kosala. The Bhubanes'vara temple is reputed to have been built by a Kesari king, and there was a flourishing city there in the eleventh and also in the fourteenth century. It was not till towards the end of the sixteenth century that Mukunda Deva, the last Hindu king of Orissa, removed the capital to Cuttack.

In the same number the Mahāmahopadhyāya concludes his account of the contributions made to civilization by Bengal, in the sense in which the term was used prior to 1905. The art of sculpture flourished in the time of the Pāla kings of Bengal; and their artists excelled in the matter of facial expression. The

Pandits of Bengal, it is claimed, were the first to attempt to give a serious interpretation of the Vedas. Buddhism was finally extirpated by the early Muhammadan invaders, who murdered the monks and destroyed the shrines and manuscripts of Hindus and Buddhists alike. Two centuries later Vṛhaspati Srikala inaugurated a new era of culture; the Nyāya system of Philosophy was again studied at Navadvipa, and its cult spread thence to all parts of India. Mention is also made of the revival brought about by Chaitanya, and of the way in which the Buddhists and aboriginal inhabitants were brought into the fold of Hinduism by his followers and those of Sankarācāry ya.

Professor Samaddar has written for the March number an account of the Economic Condition of Early India, following the lines indicated by Mrs. Rhys Davids. He gives much fresh information and quotes numerous references which will be of great use to other workers in this comparatively new field. Professor Samaddar is still working at this subject which will well repay critical investigation. The same Professor has contributed to the December number a paper on Kingship in Ancient India. He quotes passages to show that in very ancient times the monarchy was elective, but admits that at the time of the Mahabharata the office already passed usually from father to

The writer does not think there is much historical support for the suggestion that in ancient India councils of ministers limited the autocratic power of the sovereign.

In the September number Mr. K. G. Sankara boldly enters the lists against that veteran student Pandit Hara Prasad Shastri, and endeavours to show that the poet Kalidasa flourished in the time of Skanda-Gupta and not, as the latter says, in that of Yasodharman, some two generations later. The Pandit in reply has vigorously supported his original conclusion.

In the same number Mr. B. C. Majumdar who shows wonderful powers of research for a man bereft of his eyesight, gives a brief historical sketch of Orissa. He points out that while the ancient kingdom of Kalinga extended along the

whole of the Orissa seaboard, the Oḍras and Utkalas were already in occupation of the area further inland. The Utkalas find frequent mention in the Purāņas and even in the Mahabharata, while the Oḍras are mentioned in the Natya Śastra in the company of the S'avaras and other rude tribes. The author identifies the Puri district with the Kongada of ancient inscriptions. The upper valley of the Mahanadi was included in the ancient kingdom of Dakshina Kosala.

Khan Bahadur Sarfaraz Husain Khan has given us the three last instalments of his translation of the second part of the Khulasat-ut-Tawarikh (which deals with Bengal and Bihar) by Mahārāja Kalyān Singh, son of Mahārāja Sitāb Rai. The author describes how, after his first defeat, Mir Kāsim. put to death Mahārāja Rām Nārāyan, the Governor of Patna, and other Indian prisoners, and how, after Mir Kasim's second defeat and retreat to Oudh, he (the author) and his father conducted, on behalf of Mir Jafar and the English, the negotiations with the Emperor and the Nawab of Oudh which led to the recognition of Mir Jafar as the Governor of Bengal and the grant of the Diwani to the English. As a reward for his services Sitab Rai was given by the English a valuable khillat and was granted an annuity (for two of rupees a year. Subsequently, when the helped Mir Kāsim to invade Bihar, Mahārāja a vain attempt at mediation; and the victory Munro at Buxar brought the war to a decisive conclusion.

lives) of a lakh. Nawab of Oudh Sitāb Rai made gained by Major

An interesting account is given of Sitab Rai's installation as Deputy Governor of Bihar jointly with Rājā Dhiraj Nārāyan, and of the friction which followed, ending with the latter's downfall. Sitab Rai was then made sole Deputy Governor, and the senior British officer of the Fatna Council was appointed to carry on the administration in consultation with him. Later on Sitāb Rai was summoned to Calcutta to answer certain charges. He was honourably exonerated; and after being presented with a khillat returned to Patna, where he died soon afterwards. His son, the author, was installed