The stone which bears this inscription was discovered, about two years ago, in the wall which, surrounds the city of Jodhpur, near the Merta gate. It was probably brought from the neighbourhood, when the fortifications of Jodhpur were completed, during the reign of Bakht Singh, about the middle of last century. As is shown by the fact that in the present position of the stone the lower lines of the writing are uppermost, little or no notice was then taken of the inscription which it contains.

The following two passages of the Brhaddevatā occur in afourteenth century Poona MS. of Sadguruçisya, which I collated for my edition of the Sarvānukramanī and its commentary. The MS. is described in pages xii. and xiii. cf the introduction to that edition. It is there termed P I, but below referred to simply as P. These two extracts were not printed in my edition, because they occurred in none of the other MSS. of Sadguruçisya, and were at the same time too long to incorporate in the notes. I now edit these old Vedic myths both as containing matter of some interest and as likely to be of use to a future editor of the Brhadde-vatā.

The subjoined list of words is founded mainly on those of B. H. Hodgson, but certain omissions and additions have been made, with the object of showing only those words in common use which experience teaches are not easily altered or changed in the times of “storm and stress” through which most of the wilder tribes of Burma are passing, or which they have undergone at some previous stage of their history. In few parts of the world, indeed, has tribal conflict been more incessant than amongst the Mongoloid hillmen of S.E. Asia, or the conditions more favourable for the disintegration of old and the formation of new languages and dialects,—hence the multiplication of the latter so frequently remarked on by philologists.

The present paper brings the much despised Mahāyāna form of Buddhism fully home to the very cradle-land of Buddhism in India, and invests itwith unexpected importance in the history of Indian Buddhism.

No one has yet realized the vast extent to which Mahāyāna and Tāntrik Buddhist remains cover India; nor sufficiently realized the leading part played by the Mahāyāna in Indian Buddhism during its most popular period.

The Lāmas, as is well known, have preserved in very full form much archaic Indian lore, now otherwise imperfectly known or altogether lost. And a valuable feature of such Lāmaist literature is the frequent use of bilingual names, where the Sanskrit name is supplemented by a most careful etymological translation into Tibetan, thus enabling us to fix the etymology of many of the Hindū and Buddhist mythological and historical names, regarding which vague guesses are often hazarded. These Tibetan etymologies, though not necessarily the true ones, are certainly those which over a thousand years ago were the current traditional etymologies in India. And as, even apart from etymological features, categorical lists of little known personages, mythological or prehistoric, are helpful to students of both Buddhism and Hinduism, I here give a list of Nāga Rājās from the Mahācyutpatti, in the bsTan-hgyur (Tén-gyur) section of the Lāmaist Scriptures. This list, which may be compared with that in the Vāyu Purāna, seems to include many of the Vedic terrestrial Nāga Kings, the aboriginal enemies of the primitive Aryans, whose more direct descendants are now confined chiefly to the remote hills of Nāgpur, Chhoṭa Nāgpur, etc., etc. Tibetan literature contains much information about these Nāgas, one of Buddha's titles being ‘King of the powerful Nāgas.’

No death in India in the present generation has been more universally deplored than that of the Honourable Mr. Justice Kasinath Trimbak Telang. This widespread regret gives us in some sense a measure of his great worth to his country and to learning, of his personal charm, and of the influence he exercised in helping unnumbered disciples to take larger views and lead purer and nobler lives. Amid the manifold activities to which the needs of life and his public spirit led him, his high aims and his passionate desire for the moral elevation of his countrymen gave to his conversation and character a loftiness, a singleness of purpose, and a tender consideration for the weaknesses of others which, combined with his wide range of information and his penetrating intelligence, made his presence almost fascinating to all for whom he lifted the veil of his reserve. It was a reserve consistent with a polished urbanity, and even outside the veil there were ample stores to furnish forth the discussion of all common topics on the accepted lines; but his inner nature was in a great degree that of a meditative Saint enamoured of purity and holiness, and filled with longing aspirations for the progress of mankind, but especially of the Hindus, towards perfection in knowledge, wisdom, and purpose.