Abū Dāwūd Sulaimān b. al-Ash'ath al-Sijistānī (202–275/817–889) was the author of the Sunan which has come to be recognized as one of the six authoritative books of tradition accepted by Sunnīs. Ibn Dāsa is frequently quoted as authority for the statement that Abū Dāwūd selected the 4,800 traditions in this work from a mass of 500,000 traditions which he had collected, those given a place in his book being ‘sound traditions, those which seem to be so, and those which are nearly so’. But he adds that only four traditions are necessary for one's religious guidance: (1) Deeds are judged by intentions; (2) To abstain from what does not concern him is a part of a man's good observance of Islam; (3) A believer is not a believer till he likes for his brother what he likes for himself; (4) What is lawful is clear and what is unlawful is clear, but in between are dubious matters.

1. śāra-

IN BSOAS 13. 130–1 I pointed out the Indian manaraǵa- ‘ boy ‘, attested only by the plural manare in Niya Kharoṣṭhī, as a bye-form of the Indian māṇava- (with -ka)‘ Brahman boy ’. I noted too that the Kharoṣṭhī word gave the explanation of the Agnean manark ‘ Brahman boy ’, of which the meaning made an Indian origin plausible. I pointed also to Niya kaṣara, corresponding to Central Indian kaṣāya- ‘ yellow robe ‘, whose connexion with Agnean kāṣār is now well-known.

That recognition of the Middle Indian influence in Central Asia is most important can, I think, be shown also in connexion with another word, familiar in just such Buddhist texts as were brought into Central Asia by Buddhist communities. It is decidedly necessary to search out all such intrusive Indian material before the vocabularies of Central Asian languages can be used for wider purposes, historīcal or linguistic in Indo-European comparative grammar. And such material is itself of great importance for the history of Indian culture in Central Asia. Naturally it is in cultural, specifically Buddhist, terms that the Indian element is most prominent.

The word I propose to consider here is attested in Sanskrit śāṭa-s, śāṭaka-s, -m, śāṭtī, śāṭīkā ‘ piece of cloth, garment’, snāna-śāṭaka- ‘ bathing robe ’,śiraḥśāṭaka- ‘ head-cloth ’, well known in Central Indian literature. Beside the Brahmanical literature we have in Jaina books, Ovavāiya-sutta 54 s¯ṭiya-; Antagaṭa-dasāo (translation L. D. Barnett, p. 67) sāṭaa-; and Ratnachandraji gives in his Ardḥamāgadhī Dictionary sāṭa- ‘ garment’, sāṭaga-, sāṭaa- ‘ upper garment’, sāṭī ‘ garment’, sāṭiyā ‘ upper garment worn by ladies ’, sāṭilla- ‘ silken garment’, sāṭollaya-‘ upper garment’.

The account given of the Bamboo Annals pre-Conquest chronology in Part 1 of this paper bears comparison with the internally consistent chronological sequence found in Yi Zhou shu, whose coherence has not been fully appreciated by those attempting to reconstruct the chronology. As we saw in the discussion of King Wu's reign in Part 1, Yi Zhou shu ‘Da kuang’ and ‘Wen zheng’ chapters are correct in dating the appointment of King Wu' s siblings as viceroys in the former Shang domain, which event we know took place in the Conquest year, to the 13th year of the Mandate, a finding that is fundamentally incompatible with Chou Fa-kao's, David Nivison' s, and Edward Shaughnessy' s account. The same two chapters in combination with ‘Zuo luo’ are also correct in implying that King Wu died in the 14th year. Furthermore, ‘Wen zhuan’ chapter of Yi Zhou shu correctly dates King Wen' s demise to the ‘9th year of the Mandate’ in those very words.

The Southern Sudan may be regarded a, s one of the most interesting of African fields for the comparative linguist and anthropologist, for it is here that the Eastern “ Sudanic ” and the Western “ Hamitic ” races meet, and it is here also that one finds that peculiar wedge of people who, for want of a better term, are called “ Nilotes ”.

Major M. D. Van Lessen, M.C. (Royal Hampshire Regt.), has made available to me, in photographs and hand-made copies, about 30 inscriptions and graffiti which he had either acquired or come across on rocks and buildings during his tour of duty with the Aden Protectorate Levies. These inscriptions, most of which proved to be hitherto unknown or unpublished, will be numbered in a series under the name-of Van Lessen.

It has been stated many times that the principal idea in the repetition of words is that of emphasis or intensity. My observation has led me to conclude that this is incorrect, and that the true sense in almost every case is one of the following:—

distribution (over time, space, or a number of objects), pleasantness, no meaning at all.

In order to make the inquiry practical, it is better to confine it to cases of words repeated without alteration. If anyone will in the course of his reading take 1,000 consecutive instances of repetition, he will find that (i) short words are repeated far oftener than long,(ii) repetition of adjj. or advv. with a pleasant meaning is much commoner than of those with a nasty meaning, and when the meaning may be either good or bad, the good is intended,(iii) nearly every instance comes under either distribution or pleasantness.

Ever since the publication of the text, scholars have disagreed on the date of the composition of the Śukraniti. Oppertx placed it very early, in the period of the Smrtis and the early epic literature. V. S. Agrawala and Syamlal Pandya regard it as a work of the Gupta period. But generally the text is utilized as a source for the early medieval period, especially the eleventh or the twelfth century. Rajendra Lai Mitra held that the work could not be older than the sixteenth century. Sanskritists, following the lead of Keith and Kane, dismiss the text as of quite a late date and hence not applicable to the Hindu period.

The subject of oracles and divination usually calls to mind two topics, the shells and bones of the Shang–Yin period, and the cast of the yarrow stalks with a view to constructing the hexagrams. Attention may then fasten on the inscriptions of the shells and the bones, or on the Changes, and their respective places in linguistic, religious, historical or philosophical studies. However, it is by no means always recognized that divination and oracles continued to be matters of considerable importance in their many forms in later ages, playing a significant role alike in political decisions, religious practice and scientific enquiry.