4. Contributions to the Notes of the Quarter by the PAGE 156 157 ART. V.—The Dâgabas of Anurâdhapura. By JOHN CAPPER 165 ART. VI.-Andamanese Music, with Notes on Oriental Music and Musical Instruments. By M. V. PORTMAN, M.R.A.S. 181 ART. VII.-Tsieh-Yao-Tchuen de Tchouhi (Extraits). Par C. DE HARLEZ, M.R.A.S..... 219 CORRESPONDENCE. 1. Architecture in India, by W. F. Sinclair, Bomb.C.S. 272 313 3. The Origin of the Babylonian Characters from the Persian Gulf, by Terrien de Lacouperie, M.R.A.S. 316 NOTES OF THE QUARTER. 1. Reports of Meetings of the Royal Asiatic Society, 277 ART. VIII.-Notes on the Early History of Northern India. ART. IX.-The Customs of the Ossetes, and the Light they throw on the Evolution of Law. Compiled from Professor Maxim Kovalefsky's Russian Work on "Contemporary Custom and Ancient Law," and translated with Notes, by E. DELMAR MORGAN, M.R.A.S. .... 321 364 ART. X.-The Languages spoken in the Zarafshan Valley ART. XI. Further Notes on Early Buddhist Symbolism. ART. XII.-On the Metallic Cowries of Ancient China PAGE 413 419 428 CORRESPONDENCE. Kālidāsa in Ceylon, by Cecil Bendall NOTES OF THE QUARTER. 440 1. Reports of Meetings of the Royal Asiatic Society.. 441 Anniversary Report of the Council.... 2. Contents of Foreign Oriental Journals 443 449 450 453 459 460 461 7. Corrigenda. ART. XIII.-The Tantrakhyāna, a Collection of Indian Folk- 465 VART. XIV.-A Jātaka-Tale from the Tibetan. By H. WENZEL, Ph.D. 503 ART. XV.-Moksha, or the Vedántic Release. By DVIJADAS DATTA... CORRESPONDENCE. 1. The Cross and Solomon's Seal as Indian Emblems, by W. F. Sinclair, Bomb.C.S. 513 541 1. Notes on a Collection of MSS. obtained by Dr. Gimlette, of the Bengal Medical Service, at Kath- mandu, and now deposited in the Cambridge JOURNAL OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY. ART. I.-The Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van. By the Rev. Prof. A. H. SAYCE, M.A., M.R.A.S. THE publication of my memoir on the Cuneiform Inscriptions of Van in the pages of this Journal (Vol. XIV. pp. 377-732) gave an impetus to the study of these interesting texts which was not long in bearing fruit. M. Stanislas Guyard, who had already contributed so much to their decipherment, and whose untimely death is still deplored by science, soon afterwards published a detailed criticism of my work (in his Mélanges d'Assyriologie, Paris, 1883), and followed it by papers in the Journal Asiatique (8th series, vol. i. pp. 261, 517; vol. ii. p. 306; vol. iii. p. 499). M. Stanislas Guyard was succeeded by the eminent Semitic scholar of Vienna, Prof. D. H. Müller, who had been independently studying the Vannic inscriptions, and papers upon them from his pen have appeared in the Oesterreichische Monatsschrift für den Orient (Jan. 1885, and Aug. 1886), and in the 36th volume of the Imperial Academy of Vienna (1886, "Die KeilInschrift von Aschrut-Darga"). Prof. Patkanoff has, moreover, been kind enough to send me copies of Vannic inscriptions found in the Russian province of Georgia, which I have published with translations and notes in the Muséon, vol. ii. pt. 1 (1883); vol. ii. pt. 3 (1883); vol. iii. pt. 2 (1884); vol. v. pt. 3 (1884). Apart, therefore, from the improved translations of words. and passages, due to the penetration of M. Stanislas Guyard and Prof. D. H. Müller, our stock of materials has been VOL. XX.-NEW SERIES.] 1 considerably increased since the publication of my memoir. M. Guyard was fortunate enough to find in the Louvre squeezes of the great inscription of Argistis on the rock of Van, made some years ago by M. Deyrolle, as well as squeezes of other inscriptions, and a copy of the text of Meher Kapussi. The squeezes and copy include my inscriptions V., VII., XIV., XIX., XX., XXXVIII., XXXIX., XL., XLI., XLII., XLIX. The corrections of the text furnished by them are of considerable importance. From Prof. Patkanoff I have received copies of four new inscriptions from Armavir, and of inscriptions found at Ordanlu, Ihaulijan, and Salahaneh, as well as a photograph of the inscription of Menuas engraved at Tsolakert (No. XXXIV. of my Memoir). These fresh spoils not only add to our knowledge of the Vannic vocabulary, but enable us to amend our old readings. Lastly, Prof. Müller has published one of the four inscriptions from Armavir, mentioned above, from a squeeze and photograph of Prof. Wünsch, together with an interesting text of Sarduris II. from Astwadzashen, and a copy of the first seven lines of the inscription of Palu (No. XXXIII.) from a squeeze of Prof. Wünsch. It will be seen, accordingly, that during the five years which have elapsed since the publication of my Memoir, important advances have been made in our knowledge of the Vannic texts. I shall, first of all, pass in review those portions of my Memoir in which, as I believe, my readings and translations have been successfully corrected by Guyard and Müller, or in some instances by myself, noting the emendations the texts themselves have received from the squeezes of M. Deyrolle and the photograph of M. Patkanoff; and I will then give the new inscriptions that have been brought to light, with translations and a commentary. At the end a vocabulary will be added, containing the new words from the recently-found inscriptions, as well as the words the reading or translation of which requires correction. Certain corrections must be introduced into the list of characters (pp. 419-422). The character is not a form of da, as I had supposed, but of Eli. This was |