Whatever difference of opinion may exist as to the introduction of Chess into Europe, its Asiatic origin is undoubted, although the question of its birth-place is still open to discussion, and will be adverted to in this essay. Its more immediate design, however, is to illustrate the principles and practice of the game itself from such Oriental sources as have hitherto escaped observation, and, especially, to introduce to particular notice a variety of Chess which may, on fair grounds, be considered more ancient than that which is now generally played, and lead to a theory which, if it should be established, would materially affect our present opinions on its history.

In presenting to the Royal Asiatic Society the accompanying two specimens, in crystal, of the Sri Jantra, it will be proper to offer some explanation of the manner in which they came into my hands; of the use to which they are applied by the Hindus; and of the meaning, and apparently great antiquity, of the mysterious symbol of the Double Equilateral Triangle.

Under the impression that any notice, however scant, bearing on the present state of the sites of the Seven Churches of Asia, will not prove wholly unacceptable to the Society, I have ventured to offer a few notes taken during a recent tour to these interesting localities.

About three miles and a half to the E. N. E. of Chittoor, in North Arcot, lie the ancient sepulchres called Pánduvaram Déwal, in a secluded valley, hemmed in by rocks. The head of the valley is closed by a spur from the Eastern Ghauts, running nearly north and south. Through an abrupt transverse break in this ridge the stream which waters the valley runs to the Poinay river, which it joins about a mile further east. Beyond, and blue in the distance, a mass of irregular and strongly indented rocks closes the view to the eastward.

I Propose to offer to the Society some illustrations of the sacrifice of human beings as an element of the ancient religion of India.

In the first book of the Ramayana a curious legend is narrated of the son of the Rishi Richíka, named S'unahśephas, who was sold by his father for a hundred thousand cows to Ambarísha, the king of Ayodhyá, to supply the place of a sacrificial animal or victim intended for a sacrifice, but stolen by Indra. S'unahśephas is accordingly conveyed to the place of sacrifice, and being dressed in red garments and decorated with garlands of red flowers, is bound to the stake. By the advice of Viśwámitra he prays to Indra and Agni with two sacred verses (gáthás, according to Schlegel's edition; richas, in Gorresio's) communicated to him by the Rishi, and Indra bestows upon him long life, whilst at the same time the king is not disappointed of his reward. This version of the legend leaves it doubtful whether an actual sacrifice of the victim, or one only typical, is intended.

Amongst the many interesting monuments of India, the most remarkable, as well as the most ancient, are the cave-temples and topes of the Buddhists. The former have been made known by the pictorial illustrations of Fergusson; but the curious paintings which adorn the interior must be copied, and the numerous inscriptions must be deciphered, before the world will appreciate the full value of these works as illustrations of the religious belief and every-day life of the Indians of Alexander's time. Of the topes, none have yet been described, excepting the largest of the Sanchi group, near Bhilsa. An accurate plan and section of this building, with a short account of the various subjects represented in the sculptured bas-reliefs of the gateways, was published by my brother, Captain J. D. Cunningham, in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. On his solicitation and earnest representation of the great value of these bas-reliefs, the Court of Directors were induced to employ Lieutenant Maisey to make drawings of the building and of its sculptured gateways. In January last I joined Lieutenant Maisey at Sánchi, and I am therefore able to speak positively of the value of his drawings, which cannot be surpassed for strict fidelity of outline and minute accuracy of detail. The groups of topes around Bhilsa will now be illustrated in a manner worthy of their value and importance.

A short time ago, I purchased for the Library of the East India Company, a few MSS. which had apparently been written or collected by a gentleman named R. E. Roberts, who in 1784–5 held the office of Persian Interpreter either to the Governor of Bengal or the Commander of the Forces. I have not been able to learn anything further of him, except that, as might be inferred, he was an officer in the Bengal Army, and was personally known, late in life, to some of our members. There is an Indian Glossary or Vade-Mecum, compiled by a Lieutenant Roberts, of the 3rd Regiment N. I.; but it was printed in 1800, and his designation is T. T. Roberts; he must be, therefore, a different person. The papers of R. E. Roberts indicate extensive acquirements, and comprise a very good Persian grammar and a translation of a Hindustani grammar, compiled in Latin by a missionary named Schultz, and printed at Halle by Professor Cullenburg in 1745.

In travelling through the eastern part of the province of Kattiawar, and in that division of it called Goheilwar (See Fig. A), after having traversed an extensive, perfectly level, and for the most part a desert plain, in a course from the north-west to the south-east, I found myself suddenly passing through a jungly tract of country, the vegetation of which, with the exception of gramina, was entirely composed of pílu bushes or trees, as they are named in the north-west of India—the ark, of the Arabs (Salvadora Persica of Linnæus). The surface of the country, through which my route had previously lain, was dotted here and there with a solitary tree of the Acacia Arabica, and consisted of a very deep alluvial soil, as evinced by the banks of several nalas and small river-courses, many of these containing a good volume of water; but from the almost complete level on which they run, all are very sluggish in their movements. Most of these streams, and also of the soil, are impregnated with salt, which in some parts covers the surface of the earth with an efflorescence like that of a strong hoar-frost. These streams all run to the eastward, to empty themselves into the gulf of Cambay; but, long ere reaching it, most of them are lost in the soft sandy soil in the vicinity of that arm of the sea.

On presenting to the Society the accompanying plan of some of the ruins of Anurádhapura, in the island of Ceylon, made by Major Skinner, the Surveyor-general of the island, to whose kindness I am indebted for it, I avail myself of the assistance of my friend Captain Gascoyne, to add to the observations which are contained in a former paper, entitled, “Some remarks upon the ancient city of Anurádhapura, and the Hill Temple of Mehentélé, in the island of Ceylon,” which the Society did me the honour to insert in the third volume of its Transactions.

Among the various wonderful inventions, marking the astonishing advances which the Chinese had so early made towards civilization, is that of Paper-Money, which dates as far back as the year 119 before our era. The cause that led to its introduction was the low state of the finances of the Government, who, after various other experiments, issued at last regular paper assignats, which, from the ponderous nature of the rude coin then in use, and the security that the warranty of government afforded, soon obtained extensive circulation. The government who had thus introduced this new currency, made it an object of much legislation; and various were the schemes that were started and remoulded, in the hope of permanently establishing its use. But the numerous intestine wars, and the repeated subversion of dynasties that followed, tended seriously to detract from the credit of the government; and thus, owing to its bad faith, and the excessive issues, a complete failure of the system was the result, after a lapse of five centuries having been spent in unsuccessful attempts to establish it. Government paper-money seems to have disappeared in the early part of the late Ming dynasty; and the Manchus, on their accession, never attempted to revive its use. To Klaproth we are indebted for very elaborate researches on this interesting and oft-discussed subject.

It has been judged possible, by the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society, that the objects for which the Society was founded, and for which it is maintained, may be made more generally known, and more accurately appreciated, by the adoption of arrangements of a more popular character than our ordinary proceedings, and which may interest a more numerous and varied portion of the public than the Members of the Society only, in matters concerning the Eastern World. It is not to be denied that the subjects which in a peculiar degree engage the attention of the Society,—the antiquities and literature of the nations of the East,—have hitherto failed to receive that attention from the public at large which might have been expected, if not from their own inherent interest, yet from our long and intimate intercourse with the most important countries of Asia, and the political identification of India and Great Britain. Works of high merit, elucidating Oriental literature, history, antiquities, religion, the conditions of Asiatic society in past or present times, and descriptive of the products of art or nature in the East, usually meet with a cold and discouraging reception, even from the reading world, or at most attract passing and ephemeral notice, leaving no durable impression, creating no continuous and progressive interest.

When the people which spread the Brahminical religion and institutions from the valley of the Ganges, extended them, by migration and conquest, over the Indian peninsula, large portions of the primitive population remained unsubdued and unconverted where physical circumstances specially favoured their resistance to force and to the pressure of moral influences; and, accordingly, numerous remnants of them are now seen, scattered widely under the most various aspects, and often under highly interesting relations to the dominant people.

The subject on which I propose to address you possesses a certain degree of interest, if it be only for its novelty. We have heard, it is true, for a series of years, of races of Hill-people in different parts of India; and latterly the accounts of them have crowded in upon us from many directions. Some have called them aborigines, without troubling themselves about their origin; while others have considered them Hindus expelled from their caste for some misdemeanour; but no one seems to have entertained the idea that the numerous communities which have been found spread over the surface of India, were the inhabitants of the country before the Hindus, or that those communities had one common origin. This idea appears to have occurred to no one that I am aware of till about six years ago, when I had occasion to refer to several papers on this subject in the Transactions of this Society, and those of the more ancient Society in Calcutta. When I began to compare the various accounts one with another, I did not fail to perceive the very close general analogies of their customs and their institutions. This led to fuller inquiries into their physiological, and eventually, into their philological peculiarities, till at length I arrived at the conclusion that all these various tribes were of one and the same race; and I shall endeavour to lead you to coincide with my sentiments on this interesting question.

Maulavi Isma'il was the nephew of Maulavi Sháh Abd-ul-Azíz, whose family is yet universally held in great veneration and respect at Delhi. He was the only son of Abd-ul-Ghani, the son of Shah Tali Allah, the most celebrated traditionist and the best student of divinity of his time. The latter had four sons; namely, the father of the subject of this biography, Maulavi Abd-ul-Azíz, Rafia-ud-dín, and Abd-ul-Kádir. They were all famous for their literary attainments and religious characters. The family traces its pedigree to Omar, the second khálif of Muhammad the Prophet.

In June, 1839, I submitted to our Society a brief paper on the subject of the Pehlvi Legends occurring on the medals of the early Mohammedan conquerors of Persia. As the memoir in question was avowedly left incomplete, consequent upon my return to my duties in India, I have since uniformly cherished the hope of being able, at some future period, to remedy the defects and supply the deficiencies of my first essay. In this view, on my arrival in this country a few months since, I commenced collecting new materials, and rigidly examining my previous inferences and conclusions, trusting that I might eventually succeed in compiling a treatise more worthy of the pages of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, than that which our Council had already complimented me by printing.