This article examines seemingly monotheistic, polytheistic and dualistic features of Zoroastrianism from the point of view of the Zoroastrian creation myth. Exploring the personality of the principal deity, Ahura Mazdā, the origin of the spiritual and material worlds and the worship of the Yazatas, it is argued that Zoroastrianism has its own particular form of monotheism.

The Samaritans possess three Chronicles, written in that mixed Hebrew idiom peculiar to them. In substance idential with one another, they differ in form. One is quite short, the second a little more expanded, and the third a further enlargement of the two previous ones. Of these Chronicles the second has been published by Dr. A. Neubauer, “Chronique Samaritaine” (Asiatique), 1869; and separately, Paris, 1873), from a copy made by the present High Priest under the title Tolidoth (T.).

In the course of an article I published in this Journal (October, 1924) entitled ‘ Rūdakī and Pseudo-Rūdakī ’ I referred to a long qaṣīda beginning with the words ‘ mādar-i-may’, which has been commonly attributed to Rūdakī, but could not be definitely assigned to that poet until the identity of the mamdūḥ Abū Ja‘far Aḥmad b. Muḥammad had been established. Moreover, Riẓā Qulī Khān, who quotes a few verses from it, was persuaded that the poem was not the work of Rūdakī but of Qaṭrān. I pointed out that I had not found it anywhere else attributed to Qaṭrān, and that the mamdūḥ was certainly not among the patrons of this poet. Thanks to my learned friend Mīrzā Muḥammad Khān of Qazwīn, the question has now been finally disposed of, and the qaṣīda is proved beyond doubt to be the work of Rūdakī. This discovery is of the highest importance for the history of Persian literature, as the qaṣīda represents the only genuine long poem of the “ Father of Persian Poetry ” which has hitherto been found. I naturally wish to disclaim any credit for the discovery, and the notes I now give and the edition of the poem which I print below are due entirely to the learned Mirza Muhammad.

The following is a Chinese description of the kingdom of Bengal, written at the commencement of the fifteenth century, about eighty years before the Portuguese discovered the route round the Cape of Good Hope, and about sixty years or so after Ibn Batuta had visited those regions. This account is a chapter taken from a work, bearing the Chinese title Ying-yai--shêng-lan (a general account of the shores of the ocean), compiled by one Mahuan, an Interpreter attached to the suite of Chêng Ho, who was sent to the various kingdoms of the western ocean by the Chinese Emperor Tung-lo. The object of this expedition was, that the Emperor Yung-lo feared that Hui-ti, his predecessor, whom he had driven from the throne, was concealing himself in some country over the sea; he wanted to trace him, and at the same time to display his military force in foreign countries, in order to show that China was rich and strong.

The cosmological aspect of religion, and the application of cosmic symbolism to religious architecture and social organization, were discovered relatively late, so that the attention rightly directed to the subject in recent years has engendered a tendency to overestimate its importance in Asian thought. Fortunately this has not escaped the notice of critics. The cosmological aspect of the ziggurat is now recognized to have been secondary. Further, with regard to Indian culture, Prof. A. L. Basham has uttered this timely warning: “It is hardly likely that the complex cosmic symbolism of the Vedic sacrifices was elaborated until long after the sacrifices themselves came into being. Similarly the cosmic symbolism of the Hindu temple seems to us to be a comparatively late and artificial growth, of far less significance than some authorities are inclined to attribute to it. The symbolism seems to have been somewhat esoteric, the preserve of schools of learned men who specialized in trying to explain every aspect of life by this means. We believe that for the early Indian man in the street it was of far less significance than might be believed from the emphasis which some modern students place upon it.” In the present article I shall try to redress the balance in the case of certain non-Islamized peoples of Indonesia, an undertaking which in view of some recent publications seems to be needed.

I concluded a former essay on Mohammedan proper names with a promise of renewing the subject in another paper, which should deal with the names of women, and some other points not included in my first sketch. The system, as it is xepresented to us by Arab authors, though somewhat complicated, admits of a distinct arrangement; and each class of proper names throws light on national character and manners, -as they were developed during the first centuries of the Hejra, and have left their traces in countries over which the Arab dominion extended. My former notice touched very slightly on the meaning and etymology of old names, to which my attention was first directed. I was very soon brought to a stand by difficulties inherent in the attempt to trace the origin of ancient names, and which are enhanced in the case of those of the Arabs by the peculiarities in the structure of the language, where the meaning of words varies so much with the strength and position of the vowel-points, of all sounds the most liable to phonetic decay. The language itself has undergone a great change since the time of Mahomet, and many old words and expressions are interpreted on traditional authority.

In medieval Islamic times and afterwards, the kuttāb was a modest institution for elementary education, with most emphasis being placed on learning the Qurʾān by heart―hence a ‘Qurʾānic school’ in English. Thus far, the topic of the kuttāb has been addressed by only a few modern works, leaving inadequately researched a number of critical related issues. This article is an attempt to give insights into the intellectual development of Muslim pedagogy in such archetypal primary schools. It looks into the teaching programmes and methods adopted for that intellectual preparation as well as their assumptions, rationales, implications, and consequences. The kuttāb's objectives are usually thought of as being universally identical, to help in the formation of a good Muslim. The picture, however, was more multifaceted, and the objectives, as well as means of their realisation, were moulded based on what a ‘good Muslim’ would mean according to those in command. Administrating the katātīb was a source, and a symptom, of competitive rivalry between the different intellectual tendencies in medieval Islam, who jostled for control over these critically significant institutions. The article thus delves into the intellectual, cultural, and socio-economic contexts in which primary education materialised and was practiced in pre-modern Islam.

If it were not for the birth of Mahāvīra amongst the Nāya-Khattiyas of Kuṇḍapura, we should probably never have heard of this people. It is mainly in connexion with the last Tīsrthaṅkara of the Jainas and the doctrine of severe asceticism which he expounded that we find a few references to the Nāyas and some scanty allusions to their political institutions in the sacred books of the Jainas, the Pāli Canon, the commentaries on these texts, and some later epigraphic records. No study of their political institutions has yet been undertaken, but the scattered data collected from these sources do present a fairly cohesive whole; though some points remain vague owing to the dearth of material.

The monument at Pl I, until recently called the “Allahabad-Kosam” pillar and attributed to Aśoka, is now known to have been erected before Aśoka came to the throne in 272 B.C. We also know with certainty that its original emblem had been – not a lion, as previously supposed – but the bull of pre-Buddhist, brahmanical religion. Moreover, there is no longer any reason to suppose that it had not always held a position overlooking the confluence of the two sacred rivers, the Gaṇgā and the Yamunā, otherwise known as “the holiest site in India”.

The Honorable the President, and Chairman, of the Honorable the Court of Directors, under whose orders, and authority the Commerce of Great Britain is carried on with the Chinese Nation at Canton, to the high and mighty Lord, the Tsontock [Tsung-tu], or Viceroy, of the Provinces of Quantong [Kuangtung] and Kiang-si, Greeting.

The rediscovery, conservation and repositioning of an ancient stone carved Buddha in Leh, Ladakh is one of the most important events in recent years for students of early Tibetan history and religion. Uncovering an inscription next to the carving has made it possible to date this artefact to the eleventh century or even earlier, while deciphering the inscription has confirmed that the figure should be identified as the Buddha Maitreya. This identification permits a better understanding of how the cult of Maitreya among of the emperors of imperial Tibet extended to western Tibet, and how the Maitreya images of western Tibet represent a specific local iconography.

His full name and title ran as-Sulṭánu'l-A'dham Mu'izzu'd-Dunyá wa'd-Din Abu'l-Ḣárith Sinjar b. Maliksháh Burhánu Amiri'l-Múminín. His motto (tawqí') was . His prime ministers were Mu'ínu'd-Dín Mukhtaṣṣ of Káshán, Shihábu'd-Dín Abu'l-Maḥásin b. al-Faqíhu'1-ajall (nephew of the Nidhámu'l-Mulk), Sharafu'd-Dín Abú Ṭáhir Mámísá of Qum, Yaghán b. al-Káshgharí, Qiwámu'd-Dín Abu'l-Qásim, and Náṣiru'd-Dín Ṭáhir b. Fakhru'1-Mulk. His chamberlains were the Amír Ghuzughlú cf. Bundárí, p. 185, 1.16, which has , Ḥusayn al-Ḥájib, Nidhámu'd-Dín Maḥmud of Káshán, and Falaku'd-Dín ‘Alí Chatrí (cf. Bundárí, p. 225,1. 1).

In 1922 a collection of four Bhāṇas was published from South Indian Manuscripts under the title of Caturbhāṇī by M. Ramakrishna Kavi and S. K. Ramanatha Sastri. In a short introduction the editors discussed the age and authorship of these works and assigned them varying degrees of antiquity. As the type of dramatic composition in Sanskrit known as bhāṇa, although ancient in origin, had hitherto been represented only by very modern examples, it was naturally a matter of considerable interest and importance for literary history, if the plays should turn out to belong to an early period as the editors claimed.

Jayavarman II is the famous Khmer ruler who, in the first half of the 9th century and after a hundred years when Khmer overlordship had been in abeyance, was consecrated on Mount Mahendra “to ensure that the country of the Kambujas would no longer be dependent on Java and that there would be no more than one sovereign who was cakravartin”. His inscriptions have never been recovered, but Khmers in later times remembered his reign as the time when their ancestors, his supporters, were rewarded with estates. Historians are today tending to regard the reign as a somewhat less significant period in Khmer history than earlier generations of historians had supposed. Its conventionally accepted length (802–850) is no longer taken for granted. The king's cult, inaugurated on Mount Mahendra, may not have been as innovative as was originally believed. Even the extent of the king's temporal power has been revised. In 1952 Dupont, clarifying the king's chronology, came to the conclusion that his territorial authority had been exaggerated and that his bid for overlordship had failed.

The word śāsana means “a royal charter” and tāmra-śāsana “a royal charter engraved on a plate or plates of copper”. Revenue-free gifts, granted by ancient Indian rulers in favour of persons, deities, or religious establishments were usually endowed with a deed engraved on durable tāmra-paṭṭa, i.e. “a plate or plates of copper”. By lakṣaṇā, a tāmra-śāsana was sometimes called tāmra-paṭṭa. Often again the word indicating the deed or charter was applied, by lakṣaṇā, to indicate the land granted. But the expression tāmra-śāsana, in this modified sense of a gift of revenue-free land, was often indicated either by tāmra or by śāsana. The word śāsana in this sense is used not only in the medieval records of Orissa but even in modern Oriya. Numerous villages in Orissa still bear names ending with the word śāsana, indicating that originally they were gift villages. Besides the word tāmra-śāsana, early Orissan epigraphy knows of two other types of śāsanas. These are the deeds called kraya-śāsana and kara-śāsana.