Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal
Asiatic Society (Kolkata, India)
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L-— ■ ^ + 'J* wM jtXa. jl IcXy-*^^ U. * vJJXffc“!^ V>! ^ 0| # cXiAA**^ ItX^^J) tXA^ dT j lij * *^^r? ^UwiSlj ^xaj j c\>,3t£ < ^ x ^*j***a] ^ \+£sdy> c^AtN^. ^Aaj »V.$ Aa.;Ijuo % !S74f.] Persian Text of the Risdlat ush-Shuhada. 237 ** L* \Jfyy, fojjjA a> &y°j* j c*<*)di dy* % &£ o^yJl ij^Ai U dy lsr^Ujbj.jd t< yj ' ' .- } L Ia^< dX^y„ft djd^&j JdA &./0 ) lyLtidlj J # d^Loy ^ddi ) ; J I/O yw ^ d-A, d£>)yA Lx^t) I/O ^ dJU&lyiw * r s $d) \ j] - dj.w ^to| V-<K-Ct - y) 1&J& Ls^UA I/O j 0,0.1 |*U/0 Ita. * 2 *J'v-/'° &•*& ) d^l L «Jy! j jL**d &*£!&!] # L^-wj) ♦♦ ^ * } diii j) l— ^Iaaw! j ^JL^o ) cLfc/O - d-idfJ ^^.itL&dlj fijMKl J!^y>o| V», ^ ♦♦ 4 S> &L3> c^^aak dy ^pyJy j& ) dy ^'Id/o * / (>dj.sO t\j ^liol^d * d.A/ &i!jj^ ^ yA.Aidl-* ^_Qjtc - - ^ ' &4.Jb j djd^.-Ajy ^Lviol •* d^d^ ui$L$1Lo i " cjXg- A-a; l .. -^>-> ^d j. .& j\ l\Ji \z>js&2>. * d^d^S c-fjLc *L& ^yAJ dy *s^l Aily* 4UA i **-^wwl ,6i5j.$ i * _ lls AAwjyk. ^ ^.->1 A-amAj A) &£ dj4Js./^t.i ) (JdJtfewj &Uu CLfj.^2^. 2d*J # Idi-v^l di.uO Cl^O^ ,jy ^1/0 d^AJ A» ^ Q-lg 1^ d^ ^ dj.^i Cl^li |^ ^ y^jn\tj&j\(>\ ^ C|U - " (J*l l)'^ ci'^y ti/-"°j ^ * L>iJ # djU^Ajj/0 yj dy d^L^- d&h *& * sljX o<<x* tdv^ ^° cyyy«_ 'ji ^d^O | ^ La; C'^rvO,-^. L^,-L L ^<0 ^./m (m/^j’xJ\ r ' * * * 2 dxc ^’Id^0 jd ifc^J^Lk^o ^ ' <* " ^ *pN> G G 238 Persian Text of /he Iti salat usJi-Shuhadd. [No. 3, ••X ** i (Axa; . /**•! j * Xili£ dJ/«] j ^ ' * adxJ - tiiiSX^j Am-^u ^ _ ;\.£. ^JxxXvw) A.A £&j*Ss> ^t>./ol J ^.sl Is ) j] o j * dT cA/oj^£ c- ^ ^ fxAx^c &l*h J;ix/o ol;jcUJ i— iiliwl oUi)i. ; <si .J& jJo jj^I U * cXi^i |*j.r S’ vV ^ ^ Jj ^*^i>s-' *AxA« «xJ^ ^ t^j i— |»U/o ;c3 vjJtj / x f ** tS^ibo <dasJ ,jl,cU& Jj! ^Isr-^l j*» Jictw *};)j Sjjj l— +X &jbb Aj ^I^JobsH /> j /-: IAxsI ^ &xAx/o cix-'*) _ 45 J J^mAj -'*"'*’ * x- * "* wj . >jj _ U«-^j u-*^) Ojbu Asr'lx^*- - As0j.£ j <S.XaJ cXj! L^A~A ^ z'' / ^U/0 ^ILaAij Jv«2i! 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'JJ „ " d-vt^ j-^p0 d^ld ^<2w (^J-^3 U»Aa«<X U d.^d c3.A^«->l ^./O d-^d l |; l)*.V " d£&di ^ d^-^*- (JdJ ♦♦ x - dA )y ^Ufe * d;Uj d dil^J LSj^C (JdX*wu| A.£ ^-d/O y dxLj ^1 ^Sw * did^d *UAx^° x ^ * * C>«>1 &*h* * didj.Ai Jd**w) *L£ O^^s: * t^’Ui ; }sf )\ (joy J> I'd d ^ ^ (»;^ '~5^ * O5^ C-f^ ;l iS-1 ^ «* ^ /• ** • /■ M ^ ^ >>w y, cjUAa. ^.s-* | L yJ. * I l A f*** &d^d *■— 3 0 lSj*y Lll^-W'd L '* (JT* 2}* ^^itbjdJ “ ■ »» ♦» <s^yy y y y ^'jtjj&Lx j£ dl£ ^5'^° l * ci^aw) &$ y/^ ” ♦♦ ” y f L_rj^^ L_r|r^ Jj>; * (1) Sr^v cJ’i***"! csj\i> <JL)y y &AA^ o^ly* * ) d^< o,U Al/O <1,^, J ^U^vdXJJ) <S.A. * d^» ^.- ^1^. ^ Jjf* ^p^A/*oj^ ^•J'A Ju^ ) A*V V*aW J Ci^iU CI^jLmXj ^ / ” X (1) In allusion to Isma’il, son of Abraham. Correction. On page 220, line 9 from below, for Isma’fl conferred on him the title of ‘ Bara Larwaiya,' read according to jg. 236, line 2 from below, Isma’il conferred on him the title of ‘ Larwa Raja,’ i. e. the spittle- Raja, from the Hindustani^ \t$TT^), spittle, saliva. — The Editor. 210 [No. 3, Letter by Col. E. T. Dalton, C. S. I., Commissioner of Cliutia Nag¬ pur, on a large picture representing the conquest of Baldmau in 1660 by Baud Khan, Aurangzib’’ s General. You no doubt recollect my telling you of the great picture of the at¬ tack of the Palamau Fort by Daud Khan, Aurangzib’s general. The picture is preserved as an heirloom by Daud’s descendants at Daudnagar, in South Bihar, and I entered into various negoeiations with divers persons to obtain a copy ; but not succeeding I had almost given it up, when to my surprise Ahmad Husain, the Agent of the Qazi of Palamau, a connection of the Daudnagar family, came to my house with the picture. Mr. Peppe had to photograph it in pieces ; for it is 30 feet in length by about 12 feet in breadth, done on cloth. I send a plan of the whole on a reduced scale omitting the figures, and the following description, which should be read with the account of the battle given in Yol. XL. of the Journal, for 1871, p. 127. The picture represents the camp of D&ud Khan on the 16th Pabi’ II, and the entrenchment of the enemy and the different positions from the first attack on the Cliero position by Tahawwur Khan, which opened the fight rather sooner than Daud had intended, to the final capture of the Fort and flight of the ‘ Gawars,’# as the enemy is contemptuously called, on the 27th KabP II, 1070 (20tli December, 1660). The first division of the picture shows Daud’s entrenched camp, an oblong enclosure. On two sides, the front and right, large guns are in posi¬ tion ; to the rear of numerous small tents in the enclosure is a row of pavil- lions, with banners in front of them, in the following order : * The word Gawdr ( gfd ) is to be distinguished from Gdivar ( ). The latter word is a corruption of Kdfar, the Persian pronunciation of the Arabic Kctfir , ‘ an infi¬ del’ ; and it is further corrupted to Gabr ), in which form it is often applied to the Parsls or fire worshipper (Guebres). The historians of Timur’s reign use Gabr even for * Hindus.’ But Gaioar is used by Muhammadan historians as an equivalent for ‘ wild aboriginal tribes,’ and hence for ‘ thieves and cattle-lifters,’ in which sense it is entered in native Dic¬ tionaries. Vide also Badaoni I, 85, 168, 234; and Dowson, Y, 193, note 6. A similar term is the word Muwds or Muioasd ( and Lulyo )? who are no doubt the “ Muasis” of Dalton’s Ethnology (pp. 154, 221, 230, 231, 280). They are men¬ tioned in Badaoni I, 228, 252, 262, 326 ; II, 376 ; vide also Journal, Bombay Geogr. Society, II, 55. Badaoni generally calls them Muivds i be-muwdsd, i. e. ‘ the heartless Muwasis.’ The Editor. 241 3374.] Dalton — The Conquest of Balamau. Left Wing. — Blach and yellow banner. Two white banners. Raja Bihruz. Shaikh. Tatar. Shaikh Ahmad. Centre. — White banner. Baud Khan. Eight Wing. — 'Banner with enibroi - Three-tailed ban- Bed-bordered dered border. ner golden. banner. Muhammad Zahid, Mirza Khan. (colour eaten away) Bakhshi of Bihar. Tahawwur Khan. The advance of the army from the fort is in the same order. The ban¬ ners are thus displayed three times, (1) in the camp; (2) on elephants dur¬ ing the advance ; (3) close to each chief in action. It is said in the ’ A 'lamgirn amah that the Cheros met this advance of Daiid’s on the 16th by issuing from the Fort and taking up an intrenched position about half a Jcos from the imperial camp. This is represented in the picture bjr a straight wall across the picture with three burjs , or bastions, on which, as well as on the curtain works, guns are mounted, pointed at the camp of the imperialists. It is said that hostilities were suspended whilst the commands of the emperor were communicated to Pratab, the Chero Raja, viz., that he must not only submit, but become a Muhammadan ; but Tahawwur Khan could not be restrained, and without orders from Daud, he made an attack from the right on the enemies’ left. This is shewn in the picture. In front are the three divisions of the army, the sirdars leading, all on foot ; next come the horses of the sirdars, enormous brutes, each followed by an elephant on which is borne the sirdar’s banner, and then the led horses of the imperialist cavalry. The third line of banners with the advance indi¬ cates the position of the different chiefs in the action ; and their names are also given. Daud Khan is in the centre. He is dressed all in white, except his stockings, which are red, and wears a white turban and tunic and white shoes. But the group of Daud and his immediate attendants is drawn on a bit of cloth inserted as a patch in the great picture, and it is said that this portion of the original drawing met with some accident necessitating a reproduction. However, Baud’s two nephews are represented near him similarly attired and armed. He and one of his nephews have bows, arrows, shield and sword. Another has a matchlock, and one of Daud’s attendants holds his master’s firelock as if offering it to him, whilst the general is draw¬ ing a bow, evidently not at a venture, as he looks stern and determined, and the enemy are close to him. The imperialist forces show a decided mixture of races. Some are of dark brown complexion, some lighter brown, and others fair as Europeans. The costume varies. There are regulars and irregulars in the imperial army, both bowmen and matchlock bearers, the 212 Dalton — The Conquest of Pal&mau. [No. 3, regulars distinguished by turbans with stiff feathers and dressed of some figured cloth, and shoes high over the instep with long thongs behind to assist in pulling them on, and the men are all bearded. The bows of the imperialist chiefs are all of the Cupid or Apollo shape, lip-curved, whilst not few, both of the enemy and of the dark skinned portion of Daud’s army, are of a simple curve, such as we still see in the hands of Kols, Gonds, and other hilltribes. The dark imperialists are as insufficiently clad as the majority of the Cheros are represented to be ; and their martial ardour is roused by drums precisely similar to those now used by the Kols, whilst the regulars of the imperial army are inspired by the ‘ trumpets peal¬ ing note,’ the trumpets as big as the men who blow them. They have also kettledrums and trumpeters on camels. There is no reason why Kols should not be found in the ranks of Daud’s army, as the Kols had on previous occa¬ sions helped the Emperor ; and in one obscure corner of the picture outside the entrenched camp of Daud, we find ‘the Zamindar i kan i almas,’ ‘the Lord of the diamond mine and who could he be if not the Nagbansi Kaja P In the portion of the picture representing the attack, the Raja of the diamond mines appears valiantly leading the troops on the extreme right of the line. This is a position assigned by the Muhammadan histo¬ rian to Shaikh pafi, whom I have not been able to identify among the belligerents. On the left, but somewhat in front of the Imperial camp, a range of hills is represented, from which the Chero camp behind their entrenchment is commanded. On the centre of these hills four great guns are mounted, and a note indicates that they were placed by Daud to enfilade the enemy. This is just as it is described by the Muhammadan historian. The losses of the imperialists were chiefly due to the fact that the outworks of the enemy were higher than those of Daud, whose camp was at the foot of the hill. Daud, therefore, occupied a hill which overlooked the position of the enemy, and erected a battery which caused much damage. “ Oil the 27tli of the same month, the enemy left their position and withdrew to the banks of the river near the fort.” It is clear from the narrative as it proceeds that they took up an entrenched position in a range of hills, running parallel with the river, with passes through them. This is shewn. A conventional drawing of hills going right across the picture, and dividing it into two equal parts, exhibits the second position of the Cheros, and represents them engaged with the imperialists. The Cheros are not shewn in their first position, as the space behind their entrenchment was reserved by the artist for a good pictorial display of the imperialists advanc¬ ing on the second position, after the Cheros had abandoned the first. The action represented is where “ Daud attacked the trenches which the Zamindar had erected along the river j” but judging from the picture Dalton — The Conquest of Valamciu. 243 1874.] (and from the ground, which I have been over), ' fortified position’ could he substituted for “ trenches’ — a line of bills with breastworks in different places and passes barricaded. (I have had myself to attack precisely simi¬ lar positions when engaged against the very same people.) I find from the picture as from the annals that Shaikh Tatar and Shaikh Ahmad, sons of Daud’s brother, with their contingents, several im¬ perial Manpabdars, and the sons of Raja Bihruz, attacked on the left, and forced the passes held by the enemy. The elite of this portion of the imperial army, a body of handsomely dressed matchlockmen, have seized a hill on the extreme left, which enfiladed one of the passes, and they are represented as keeping up a brisk fire on the disordered Cheros, whom they had dislodged. The whole portion is, indeed, shewn as captured by the imperialists ; and from this part of the ground their arrows and matchlock balls are dealing destruction on their enemies, who are seen some without heads, others fleeing with arrows in their backs, but some still holding the ground between the hills and the river. The annals tell us that Daud was induced to remain in the position he had gained, leisurely to make arrangements for the protraction of the siege, but he could not restrain his men ; “ they pursued the enemy, crossed the river after them, and commenced an attack on the fortifications.” Before morning he had completed the conquest of the fort, and the Chero Baja fled to the hills behind it. The river is represented by a band of green right across the picture (blue in my sketch), with queer shaped obstructions of a darker colour ; but as we are informed by the notes in Persian that the first is a river (the Oranga), and that the second represents rocks, it an¬ swers as well as if it had been most artistically delineated. The Chero Baja’s fort, drawn rather elaborately in plan, comes next, and the picture ends in a map of great wooded hills, into which the Baja retreated. The Chero host is for the most part portrayed holding their ground, but in sad plight between the hills from which they had been dislodged and the river. The Chero cavalry were evidently posted in reserve in the bed of the river, a very respectable body, as well mounted as their foes : but many are galloping up and down the sands of the river in a purposeless manner, some badly wounded. They are all with one or two exceptions of fair complexion and dressed as Hindustanis ; and amongst the Chero foot- soldiers there are a number of fair complexioned and well dressed men, shew¬ ing that in those da}rs, as at present, there was a considerable sprinkling of Aryans amongst the Palamau population ; but the majority are black with only a loin cloth or bathing drawers style of costume, and bare heads and bare feet, bows as above described with only one curve and plenty of arrows, besides which some have spears, and some swords and shields. The pro¬ portion of matchlockmen to bowmen is small, but even the imperialists are shewn to have more of the latter than of the former. 214 Westmacott — Site of Fort Fkdaldh. [No. 3, The artist lias not altogether failed to grasp some of the ethnic char¬ acteristics of the Palamau aborigines. The black men have all receding chins and foreheads, and are probably Kharwars. Da (id’s flank movement was apparently the only piece of strategy employed. Strong as he was in cavalry, he might have easily cut off the retreat of the Raja to the hills beyond the Fort ; but I dare say his intelligence department were at fault. It is noticeable that the imperialists did not advance their guns when attacking the second position ; they were left at their place and no field artillery was employed. I send two photographs of Palamau Fort. Note on the site of Fort Fkcldlah , District Dindjpur. — By E. Vesey Westmacott, C. S. (With a Map.) The first indication of the site of Ekdalah, which I communicated in my letter published at page 95, Proceedings, As. Soc. Beng., April, 1874, was given to me by Mr. Reily, Manager of the Chanchol estate in the district of Maldah, who told me that he had come upon a tract of high ground, where numerous bricks and old tanks betokened the site of an ancient city, and that the people called the name of the place Ekdalah. I took the oppor¬ tunity of being at Churamon, in Dfnajpur, to ride over the ground in the direction indicated, eastward at a place called Salimpur, or ‘ Chilumpoor,’ and Sayyidpur, but my search was unsuccessful. A subsequent study of the inch to the mile map showed me a village, called to this day Ekdalah, a little to the north-east of the ground I had gone over, east of the river Chiramati and five miles, not one, from the 4 Nawabi rastah.’ Doctor Buchanan, in his ‘ Account of Dinagepoor,’ published by Mr. Montgomery Martin under his own name as part of the second volume of his ‘ Eastern India,’ page 640, writes as follows : “ About a mile and a quarter west from the Baliya is a very large tank, “ called Molan-dighee,” the Tank of the Lotus, “ which is nearly choked “ with weeds. The only tradition concerning it is, that it was dug by a “ princess — Ranee — and that a miracle was necessary to procure water. “ About a mile and a quarter further west is Gor-dighee, Gurh-dighee,” the Tank of the Fort, “ the water of which has extended about six hundred yards “ north and south, and four hundred yards east and west, and which, of “ course, is a Hindoo work. A considerable portion of it has now so far “ filled up, that it is cultivated for rice. About twelve hundred yards west “ from this tank is another, called Alta Dighee, which extends nearly to the 1874.] Westmacott — Site of Fort Ekdalah. 245 “ same dimensions, but is placed with its greatest length from east to west, “ and therefore is a Mahomedan work. Between these two tanks are the 11 ruins of Borohata, which are very large heaps or mounds, that consist in “ a great measure of bricks. In many places, the foundations of walls may “ be traced, and even the dimensions of the chambers. All these chambers “ are of a small size, owing to which they may have resisted the attacks of “ time better than more spacious apartments. They are chiefly situated in “ the southern division of the town, called Kootee-baree.” (Kootee, ‘ a masonry building.’) “ In this part are some small tanks that have evidently been entirely “ lined with brick. In the centre of the ruins are indubitable traces of a “ small square fort, which has been surrounded by a double wall of brick, “ and an intermediate ditch. The ruin to the north of this fort is almost “ entirely without the trace of regular form, but the quantity of bricks “ which it contains is great. At its northern extremity is the monument “ of a Mahomedan Saint, Peer Bodol Diwan, which is built of brick.” The village of Ekdalah, or Ekdalo, is only half a mile from the north-west corner of the most westerly of the three tanks, and the ruined fort described by Doctor Buchanan about a mile and a half to the south-east of it. The two large Muhammadan tanks were, no doubt, surrounded by buildings, and I see nothing extraordinary in the whole fortified city taking its name from one of the villages included in its circumference. On the other hand, it may be that the name Ekdalah originally included a larger tract than the Mauza’, to which it is now confined. I do not know when I may be able to visit the site, but the mention of a Dargah leads me to hope r may find inscriptions I have no doubt this was the place of which Mr. Beily spoke to me, though four miles further east than he thought, nor have I any doubt as to its being the Ekdalah of Shams i Siraj and Ziya i Barani. The name Ekdalah, the distance from Panduah, the two great tanks whose length, running east and west, proves them Muhammadan, the remains of brick build¬ ings, the fort, the third tank called ‘ The Tank of the Fort,’ and the widespread inundations to the west of it, all seem to me to point to this conclusion. I can find no trace of the name A'zadpur, mentioned as another name of Ekdalah. Besides Ilyas Shah and his son Sikandar Shah, who successfully de¬ fended Ekdalah against the emperor Firuz Shah, Husain Shah seems to have made it his permanent residence, (footnote, Stewart’s Bengal, page HI), and every year made a pilgrimage on foot from Ekdalah to the shrine of the Saint Qutb at Panduah. The distance is about twenty-three miles. There is another Ekdalah, fifty miles east-south-east from Panduah, five miles south of the point where the districts of Dinajpur, Bogra, and Bajshahi touch one another, but I see no reason for thinking it the Ekda¬ lah of Muhammadan history. H II 246 [No. 3, On the Supposed Identity of the Greelcs with the Ydvanas of the Sanskrit * Writers —By Ra'jendrala'la Mitra. Were the Greeks the people who were invariably indicated by the term Yavana in the writings of Sanskrit authors ? This is a question which has presented itself in some form or other to almost every European orientalist in the course of his researches ; and a good deal has already been written on the subject. Colebrooke, Prinsep, Wilson, Schlegel, Lassen, Weber, Max Muller, and others have contributed, each from his own standpoint, his quota for a satisfactory solution of the question. There prevails, never¬ theless, a variety of opinions about it, and the necessity exists for a recon¬ sideration of the case. The leaning at present is in favour of those who believe the word Yavana to be identical with Ionia, and to mean the Greeks. The arguments on which this identification rests, are : IsL Similarity of sound of the Greek Ionia with the Persian Yunan, the Hebrew Javan, and the Sanskrit Yavana. 2nd. The use of the word Jona , the Pali form of the Sanskrit Yavana, to indicate an Ionian Prince. 3rd. References made in Sanskrit astronomical works to foreign trea¬ tises on astronomy, which, it is presumed, must have been Greek. 4 th. The intercourse of the Indians with the Greek successors of Alexander in North-Western India. None of these arguments, however, is of a character to suggest the inference proposed, much less to establish it as a positive historical fact. They all take for granted false majors, and consequently lead to erroneous conclusions. What is required to be proved is, not that the Sanskrit word Yavana has been used to indicate the people of Greece, but that it means the Greek race only, and no other. This has not yet been done ; the arguments above set forth taken in their broadest sense do not establish this ; and, with one exception, no European orientalist has asserted it. The exception refers to Dr. H. Kern, formerly a professor of Queen’s College, Benares, who, in the Preface to his edition of the Brihat Sanhita, states : “ That the Yavanas originally denoted the Greeks and only the Greeks will appear from the sequel. To assert that Yavanas (in ancient times) may denote any kind of people under the sun is so wonderful an assertion, that one ought to have some reasons given why the Hindus should give the name of Ionians to nations who were no Ionians, nor had anything in common with Ionians. It is not so strange that after the conquests of the Islam, Muhammadans were called Yavanas. The Yavanas were the foremost, the most dreaded of the Mlechas, (P Mlechchlias) so that Yavana and Mlecha became synonymous. When the 1874.] Bajendralala Mitra — The Yavanas of Sanskrit Writers. 247 Muhammadans trod in the steps of the Greeks, they became the chief Mlechas, consequently Yavanas. Yavana, however, never denotes an Arab as such, neither formerly nor now-a-days ; it is- never a name for a nation . The only nation called Yavanas were the Greeks. To what extent this asser¬ tion is founded on fact, and how much on mere hardihood of assertion, will be evident from the following remarks : Of the arguments above set forth, the first is by far the most taking with the public. The similarity of sound of the four words quoted is so close, that it cannot but produce an impression in favour of the theory that they are identical, and have a common meaning ; but it is at the same time the weakest ; for modern philology does not recognise phonetic simili¬ tude to be of any use in an argument of this kind. The similitude must be supported by satisfactory proof of the relationship of the roots from which the words are derived, before it can be used as an argument of any weight in support of their identity. But even after the identity of the roots from which the words in the different languages have been produced is proved, the question would remain open, as to how far the secondary meaning of those words had always been the same everywhere, and until that can be done, no definite conclusion can be arrived at. It is necessary, therefore, to look into the history of the words in the different languages in which they occur, before any attempt can be made to prove that they have alwaj^s indicated one single nation and no other. Now, the oldest form of Ionia is “ Uinim,” which, on the monu¬ ments of the Ptolemies, is supposed to be used “ to designate the Greek peo¬ ple ;”f but in older records, such as the monuments of the eighteenth dynasty under Tutmosis III, and IV, and Amenophis III, the same term occurs to indicate the foreign subjects of the Pharaohs, i. e. races other than Egypt¬ ians. The term is represented by a group of six symbols, of which the three upper ones, representing papyrus plants, signify Northern or Lower Egypt, and the three lower ones, representing baskets, mean “all,” which is “a comprehensive designation of the people settled in different groups and bands. Putting the two significations together, the natural inference is, that the term or group of symbols was used to indicate foreigners settled in Egypt, the bulk of whom were maritime people from the Ionian isles and the sea-board of Asia Minor, i. e., Greeks, Phoenicians, and others. Curtius supposes that the Greeks alone were always meant § ; but to apply the term exclusively to the Greeks, it would be necessary to show that at * Brihat Sanhita, p. 32. f Curtius, Hist. Greece, Ward’s Translation, I, p. 45. J Ibid., loc. cit. § Ibid., p. 46. 248 Rajendralala Mitra — The Yavanas of Sanskrit Writers. [No. 8, • _ the early period of Egyptian history when the term was used, the Greeks themselves bore the name of Uinim, or else the explanation would be against such a deduction. This, however, cannot be done. Down to the time of Homer, the common name for the true Greeks was Achseans, or Argives, or Hellenes, not lonians, and nowhere in the Greek language is the term Uinim to be met with ; and such being the case, it would be unreasonable to argue that their specific and particular name then was Uinim. Probably they were indicated by that name by the Egyptians in the later records of the Ptolemies and of Sesonchis, the Shishak of the Old Testament, but only in common with others and not specifically. The term Ionia is derived by the Greeks from Io, the priestess of Hera with whom Zeus fell in love, and whose transformation into a cow and sub¬ sequent ramblings over various parts of the earth, particularly along the shores of the Ionian Sea, to which she gave her name, form so interesting a story in Greek mythology. The true interpretation of the myth remains yet untold ; but it suggests the idea of the descendants of Io being a mixed race of the Greeks with some of their neighbouring nations ; and in support of this theory, I may cite two versions of a story related by Herodotus, in. which the principal personages, such as Zeus and Hera and Argos and Hermes, of the Io myth, are changed into mortals, and the myth resolved into a successful attempt on the part of certain Phoenician traders to abduct Greek damsels. The first version of the story was narrated to Herodotus as a Persian tradition. According to it, certain Phoenician traders “ freighting their vessel with the wares of Egypt and Assyria, landed at Argos, which was then pre-eminent above all the states included under the common name of Hellas. Here they exposed their merchandise, and traded with the natives for five or six days ; at the end of that time, when almost everything was sold, there came down to the beach a number of women, and among them the daughter of the king, who was, they say, agreeing in this with the Greeks, Io, the child of Inaclius. The women were standing by the stern of the ship, intent upon their purchases, when the Phoenicians, with a general shout, rushed upon them. The greater part made their escape, but some were seized and carried off. Io herself was among the captives. The Phoenicians put the women on board their vessel and set sail for Egypt.”* The second version is attributed to the Phoenicians, who “ deny that they used any violence to remove Io to Egypt ; she herself, they say, hav¬ ing formed an intimacy with the captain, while his vessel lay at Argos, and, perceiving herself to be with child, of her own free will accompanied the Phoenicians on their leaving the shore, to escape the shame of detection and the reproaches of her parents.”! # Ivawlinson’s Herodotus, I., p. 122. f Ibid , I., p 125. 249 1874.] Rajendralala Mitra — The Yavanas of Sanskrit Writers. It is not at all necessary for my purpose here to enquire which of the two versions is the true one ; in either case we have a very prosaic and matter-of-fact solution of a highly romantic myth ; and few will, I imagine, he disposed to doubt that the myth is only a poetical embellishment of a very common occurrence in primitive states of society, and that the so-called descendants of Io are the mixed descendants of sea-faring men of various nationalities on the western coast of Asia Minor with an occasional trace of Greek blood in them, and that trace derived, in most instances, from the maternal side ; for the practice of carrying away Greek slave girls by pirati¬ cal traders was common in the early history of Greece. The Greeks them¬ selves, in early times, did not recognise them as their descendants or members of their race, and could not, therefore, he supposed to have assumed the term Ionian as their race name. Homer was well aware of the myth of Io ; for he assigns to Zeus the epithet ’Apyei^dvr^s or ‘ Argos-slayer’ to indicate that part of the myth which says that Argos, as the emissary of Hera, too carefully watched the movements of Io in her bovine form, to prevent Zeus from restoring his lady-love to her human shape, and was ultimately destroyed by him but he does not call the Greeks Ionians, except in the line : evOa Se Boiootoi kcu Taoves eX/ceytTwre s. (II. N. 685.) In commenting on this line, Arnold says, “ These are the Ionians of Greece, particularly the Athenians, whom Homer, however, calls nowhere else by this name. This whole passage to 700 offers matter for grave doubts, which cannot he treated of here.” Sclilegel condemns the passage as “ a later interpolation;” and Lassen, “in confirmation of this hypothesis,” observes “ we have to hear in mind that the Ionians formed a very small portion of the Greek tribes that left Attica (Herod., I. 146 ; Pausanias, VII. t Indisclxe Altertlmmskunde, 736. # J Ibid., loc. cit. 250 Rajendralala Mitra — The Yavanas of Sanskrit Writers. [No. 3, Hebrew Jehohanan pmn\ and there is little doubt that it gradually sim¬ plified itself into Johannes, Joannes, John, and Jack.* * * § That the word is closely connected with the Greek Ttov, ’lav, ’laves, etc., there is no doubt. According to Cruden’s Concordance, the word means “ clay” or “ dirt,” i. e., the dirty race, formed of the outcastes of various nationalities ; or “ he that deceives, or makes sorrowful,” a very appropriate designation for a race which was noted for its piracy. But comparing it with the Sanskrit yuvan , Zend jaivdn, Latin juvenis, the true meaning, according to Lassen,. would seem to be “ young,” in contradistinction to Tpatyot, “the old” — as the Hellenes called themselves — the new Mulattoes of the Isles and the Asiatic Coast as opposed to the original inhabitants of the Greek peninsula. If this be the true origin, it must date from pre-historic times. In the Old Testament, the word occurs several times, as a proper name of an individual, of a race, of a country, of an empire, and of a town. In Genesis x. 2, 4, we find it as the proper name of one of the seven sons of Japlieth, and father of Elishah, Tarshish, Kittim, and Dodanim. The state¬ ment is repeated in, Chronicles, i. 5 and 7. The Rev. Mr. Hewlett, in one of his annotations to the Bible, says, “ Japheth seems to have been the same with Iapetus, whom the Greeks own to have been their father ; nor do they know any name of greater antiquity : which made them give it to decrepit persons, as Bochart has observed. Older than Iapetus was with them a proverbial saying.”f In Isaiah, where the Lord threatens to send those who fail to come to the fold of the Church, or “ to escape of them, unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off,”£ the name of a country is obviously intended. In explanation of the passage, Hewlett says, “ Tarshish denotes the eastern parts ; Pul and Lud the south ; Tubal and Javan, the north ; and the isles afar off, the west.” What the particular country intended is, is not mention¬ ed, and the direction given does not lead to Greece. Hr. Smith takes the several names to be the representatives of the Gentile world. § As the name of a tribe or race we find it in Ezekiel xx. 13. Javan and Tubal and Meshech are said there to be the merchants who traded with Tyrus. But the ancient practice of using the names of countries for those of races may be appealed to in support of the Rev. Mr. Hewlett’s supposition of their being * The Babylonian god Oannes, ’ flap vrjs, who is described by Berosus to have come from the Erythrean Sea, with a fish’s body, a human bead under cover of a piscene one, human lower limbs, and a fish’s tail, is supposed to have its name connected with the term Javan. Cory’s Ancient Fragments, 243, apud Inman’s Ancient Faiths in Ancient Names, II. 400. f Hewlett’s Bible, Gen. x. 2. X Isaiah lxvi. 19. § Dictionary of the Bible, I., p. 935. 1874.] Bajendralala Mitra — The Yavanas of Sanskrit Writers. 251 names of countries, and that the terms are tribal names, derived from the locale of the several peoples mentioned, the first signifying Ionia or Greece. Bearing, however, in mind the early age when the book of Ezekiel was written, one would be disposed to fancy that the Phmnicians were the people meant and not Greeks, who then certainly had very little maritime traffic of their own, and depended a good deal on Phoenician traders for supplies of foreign goods. In Daniel viii. 21, x. 20, xi. 2, the references are accepted by the authorised translator of the Bible to mean the Macedo¬ nian empire, and in Zecliariah x. 13, to be the Graeco-Syrian empire. Again, in Ezekiel xxvii. 19, according to Dr. Smith, “ a town in the southern part of Arabia (Yemen) whither the Phoenicians traded, is indicated.” He adds “ the connexion with Uzal decides in favour of this place rather than Greece, as in the Vulgate. The same place may he noticed in Joel iii. 6, the parallelism to the Sabseans in verse 8, and the fact that the Phoenicians bought instead of selling slaves to the Greeks (Ez. xxvii. 13,) are in favour of this view.”# Commenting upon the different passages above cited, Dr. Smith ob¬ serves : “ From a comparison of these various passages, there can be no doubt that Javan was regarded as the representative of the Greek race ; the similarity of the name to that branch of the Hellenic family with which the Orientals were best acquainted, viz., the Ionians, particularly in the older form in which their name appears (Taco), is too close to be regarded as accidental, and the occurrence of the name in the cuneiform inscriptions of the time of Sargon (about B. C. 709) in the form of Yavnan or Yunan, as descriptive of the isle of Cyprus, where the Assyrians first came in con¬ tact with the power of the Greeks, further shows that its use was not confined to the Hebrews, but was widely spread throughout the East. The name was probably introduced into Asia by the Phoenicians, to whom the Ionians were naturally better known than any other of the Hellenic races, on account of their commercial activity and the high prosperity of their towns on the western coast of Asia Minor. The extension of the name westward to the general body of the Greeks, as they became known to the Hebrews through the Phoenicians, was but a natural process, analo¬ gous to that which we have already had to notice in the case of Chittim.”f It is unquestionable that in the later writings of the Hebraites and in modern Hebrew the word is used to indicate the Greeks, the meaning extending from the Asiatic Greeks or Ionians to the Hellenes of Europe ; but from the passages above quoted, it is far from being conclusive that in the early times of the Genesis the Greeks of Europe were known to the Jews, and there is very little to show that Greek colonists had extended to the * Ibid , 936. f Ibid., p. 935. 