Brahmans, and the nominal Brahmans, The grant gives a village to a Brahman, Asoko, as Piyadasa This is another of Asoko's edicts, from a new locality, showing the wide extent of Raja. his domain. It differs somewhat in style and language from the pillar and rock edicts. The subject is the Buddhist REMARKS. commandment, forbidding the sacrifice of four-footed animals. The Vedas are alluded to but not named, and condemned as "mean, and false in their doctrine, and not to be obeyed." The scriptures of the Munis (which must be the Vedas) are spoken of as directing bloodofferings and the sacrifice of animals. Priests and priestesses, religious men and religious women, amongst the Buddhists, are commanded to obey the edict, and bear it in their hearts. These inscriptions relate to the wellknown sculptures at Mahamalaipur, and are little more than names applied to the figures in the sculptures. They are described in the Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society. P.S. In the body of my Notes, I omitted mention of some important facts contained in the above Analysis of Ancient Inscriptions; namely, that prior to the fourth century A.D., every inscription whatever is in the Pali language, and by Buddhists; and subsequently to that period, a rough Sanskrit makes its appearance, gradually refining into the polished Sanskrit of the tenth and eleventh centuries, the Buddhists themselves, FOR THE FIRST TIME, using the so-called Sanskrit. And every subsequent inscription of these religionists being in that language, the Pali disappearing from India; but being retained by the fugitive Buddhists in foreign countries; thus affording further ground for the presumption that the so-called Sanskrit gradually superseded and displaced the Pali. W. H. SYKES. No. IV. Very frequent mention of the Puranas having been made in the preceding Notes, the following very brief—indeed skeleton-analysis, taken from Professor Wilson's observations, may be useful. The chief object is to give the impression of so learned an authority as Professor Wilson with respect to the dates of the well-known productions. 8 Siva.... Agni, or Agneya.. Saiva. Worship at Follows Mahabha- Cannot be very re Bhavishya, Gaya. or Worship of Siva. rat and Ramayana Mahabharata quot- mote. Probably before the Mahomedan invasion. Cites the commentator on Panini, therefore after mass of Hindu poetry, and part supplied eight or nine centuries ago. Probably prior to the Moslem invasion. The Puranas are not to be relied upon, in their present condition, as authorities for the mythological religion of the Hindus at any remote period. The Mahabharata says of itself, that no legend is current in the world which is unconnected with it, and therefore intimates its being the origin of those told in the Puranas.-Preface to the Vishnu Purana, p. 58. INDEX TO VOL. VI. ANGORA Goat, on the white-haired, by Arrian, quotation from, account of Asoko raises a statue to Buddha, 289. Ball, Samuel, Esq., on the expediency Briggs, Major-General, a short account on board ship as merchants, might be constituted from those so called by Western originally strangers in India, 399. their acquisition of power tooth relic, 283, 306, 317, 318. first introduced into China,251. practical precepts of, 265. Buddhist emblems, 451. Buddhists anciently ate flesh, 286. Cassie Chitty, S., Esq., on the site and Arrian's account of, 365. a civil institution among Bud- not of much importance an- Christopher, Lieut. W., 'vocabulary of 42. Conolly, Lieut. A., on the white-haired China, observations on the expediency of Chinese literature, knowledge of Indian Cureton, the Rev. W., extracts from Dauney, W., Esq., observations with a Fa hian, birth of, 253; sets out on his |