Select Contents of Oriental Journals

Summary

This section summarises notable articles published in recent issues of various Oriental journals, offering readers a digest of current research in archaeology, linguistics, history and religious studies. From the Bulletin of the Archaeological Survey of India it notes V. Gordon Childe’s paper on megalithic monuments of India, which compares stone circles and dolmens found in India, Iran, the Caucasus and the Mediterranean and discusses their classification and distribution. N. P. Chakravarti analyses minor rock‑edicts of Aśoka and related problems of dating. Stuart Piggott reports on metal pins and mace‑heads from the Harappan culture, while A. Ghosh summarises excavations at Sirkap, describing structures, pottery, terracotta and coins from the Maurya and Śuṅga strata. R. E. M. Wheeler contributes lectures on India in pre‑Islamic times and on megalithic and other cultures in Mysore. V. S. Agrawala writes on terracotta figurines of Ahicchatra. The section then lists papers from Bhāratīya Vidyā, Brahmavidyā and other journals. P. K. Gode examines the mosquito‑net in Egypt and India, using literary and archaeological evidence to argue for a continuity of mosquito nets in India from 500 BCE to 1800 CE. H. C. Bhayani studies the language of Gujarat from earliest times to 1300 CE. P. C. Divanji translates and comments on the Brhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad’s Kenopaniṣad. K. Madhava Krishna Sarma discusses the devotional poem Ānandabhairavi by Āśānanda. A symposium on the language problem in India records debates on whether Tamil, Hindi, English or Sanskrit should serve as national languages. The Quarterly Journal of the Mythic Society features K. Krishnamurthy’s study of Abhinavagupta’s contribution to the theory of dhvani and V. G. Sivatil’s paper on the interpretation of Aryan and aboriginal cultures with special reference to the Sora tribe. Sino‑Indian Studies publishes an article by Dschi Han‑lin on the oldest Chinese translations of the name Buddha, arguing that the Chinese Fo is derived from an Indian prakrit form, and another by Walter Liebenthal on a Sanskrit inscription from Yünnan that sheds light on contacts between Bengal and Yünnan monasteries. P. C. Baggi writes on the geographical catalogue of Yakṣas in the Mahāmāyūrī mantra‑bhadra, while a note from Pali scholars points out an encyclopaedic work on law (Dharmasaṅgraha). By presenting this collection of abstracts, the section enables readers to keep abreast of research trends without consulting each journal individually. The range of topics—from megalithic archaeology and Aśokan edicts to Chinese translations and Yakṣa catalogues—illustrates the vitality and interdisciplinary nature of Oriental studies in the mid‑twentieth century.