372

scious of itself.

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. These theories are commended

to us, sometimes in the name of science, or his

tory, or philology, or even of metaphysics; and though neither new nor very original, yet they can do much injury to feeble hearts. This is not the place to examine these theories, and their authors are both too learned and too sin

cere to be condemned summarily and without discussion. But it is well they should know by the examples, too little known, of Buddhism, what becomes of man if he depends on himself alone, and if his meditations, misled by a pride of which he is hardly conscious, bring him to the precipice where Buddha was lost. I am well aware, moreover, of all the differences, and am

[SUPPLEMENT, 1873.

INSCRIPTION AT WISALGAI).H. In his paper on the ‘Musalman Remains in the South Końkan' (ante, p. 318), Mr. Nairne has pointed out a manifest error in a statement made

by Graham in his Report on the Principality of Kolhapur, viz. “that a Persian inscription records the capture of the fort (of Višālgadh) by the Muhammadans in A.D. 1234.

Graham does not

give a transcript of this inscription, but he gives

(pp. 338, 341) a copy of what he calls “an inscrip tion of the same period” (A.D. 1247). The following transcript and translation of this latter is supplied by Mr. E. Rehatsek: Transcript:-

&sº e's- j's

not going to insult our contemporary philosophers

S_2?

by confounding them indiscriminately with Bud dha, though addressing the same reproof to both. I willingly acknowledge all their additional merits —which are considerable. But systems of philo

r". e.” < *;= z_* <!2° eaſ g3! --!> Gºjš U gº ejº

sophy must always be judged by the conclusions Translation :-

to which they lead, whatever path they may pursue in attaining to them ; and their conclusions are not therefore the less objectionable, though reach ed by different means. Buddha arrived at his conclusions 2,400 years ago. He preached and practised them with an energy not likely to be surpassed, if it be even equalled. He manifested a childlike intrepidity that no one can exceed; nor can it be supposed that any system in our days could again acquire an ascendency so powerful over the souls of men.

It would be useful, how

ever, if the authors of those modern systems would just cast a glance at the theories and des tinies of Buddhism. It is not philosophy in the sense in which we understand this great name. Nor is it religion in the sense of ancient Paganism, of Christianity, or of Muhammadanism ; but it con tains elements of all, worked up into a perfectly independent doctrine, acknowledging nothing in the universe but man, and though confounding man with nature, in the midst of which he lives,

The business of the world is based on resolution ;

This Daulat Burj has been completed well. If thou wishest to know its date,

Now take pains that thou mayest call it ‘Daulat Burj [castle of happiness]. The numerical value

of the

letters

to

the

two words ºr e-l, according to the Abujad, give the date—4+6+30+400+2+200+3=645 A.H., which year began 8th May 1247 A.D., as read by Graham. From Ferishtah's statement, how ever, it is evident the Musalmāns did not get

possession of it before A.H. 875. May we not suppose an error of 270 or 300 years made by the original scribe in valuing the letters, say by placing the first figure of the 3rd or 7th letter in the hundreds' place P CASTES OF THE BOMBAY PRESIDENCY. (Continued from p. 274, vol. II.)

obstinately refusing to recognize anything else.

Bárá ; Bārid.—In Rewa Kanta and adjoining

Hence all those aberrations of Buddhism, which

four or more centuries after Buddha, and must be

parts of Gujarāt, Dekhan, and Konkan; the name of a large Koli tribe, also of a district they chiefly inhabit in the firstnamed province; they are widely distributed oyer the country on the left bank of Mahi River, and have some possessions on the right bank; they are cultivators, but also retain many rude and primitive habits; their lan guage is the Gujaráti. The Bäriäs are regarded as aborigines; like the Naikada Bhills, with whom they are associated, they work the mica and car

accepted only as illustrations of the popular belief prevalent when they were committed to writing.

months also prepare káth in the jungles.

ought to be a warning to others. Unfortunately, if people rarely profit by their own faults, yet more rarely do they profit by the faults of others.” But, pleasant reading as this little volume is, and correctly as it reproduces the main narratives of the Oriental legend, it must not be supposed that these afford evidence of facts which actually happened: the earliest legends we possess date

nation mines of their districts, and in the hot

• Le Bouddha et sa Religion, Introd. p. vii.