Select Contents of Oriental Journals

Summary

The “Select Contents of Oriental Journals” section provides a roundup of notable articles published in a variety of scholarly periodicals, highlighting the breadth of contemporary research in Indology, art history and linguistics. From the journal Bharatiya Vidya (vol. VI, no. 2, February 1945), the section notes M. N. Majumdar’s study of the Abhimanyu Upakhyana, a manuscript of about 1,100 verses describing an episode from Abhimanyu’s previous life that is not found in the Mahabharata; H. Nizami’s brief history of the Baghila family of Maihar; K. Gode’s examination of provincial social customs condemned as dusacaras by Varadaraja, a disciple of Bhattoji Diksita; N. Sankar’s essay ‘The Mystery of Vikramaditya’, which argues that the founder of the Vikrama era was a historical king ruling at Ujjayini in 57 B.C., distinct from later rulers who bore the same title; and N. Saletore’s identification of the Karnataka chief Gururaya Odeya with Gurunrpala, a patron of the Jain scholar Vadi Vidyananda. The Adyar Library Bulletin (Brahmavidya, vol. IX, part 1) includes Kunhan Raja’s edition and analysis of the 14th-century commentary Sumanoramani on Kalidasa’s Meghaduta, which criticises the earlier Vidyullata commentary; M. A. Krishna Sarma’s survey of five works by the 17th-century astronomer Virasimha Ganaka housed in the Anup Sanskrit Library; and P. Krishnaswami Aiyangar’s continuation of his series on the inscriptions of Uttaramerur, focusing on a sixth inscription of Rajaraja I. The Bulletin of the Baroda State Museum and Picture Gallery (vol. I, part 1) is praised as a repository of historical and ethnological finds; it features an article by H. S. Gupte describing eleven clay seals from Nalanda housed in the museum, dated to the eighth century and containing official legends; an essay by Bhattacharya on twenty-two illustrated palm-leaf manuscripts of the Prajnaparamita, analysing their iconography; and an article by Hermann Goetz on a unique Deccani miniature painting that exemplifies a transition between Persian and Indian artistic styles in the late 16th century. The Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies (University of London, vol. XI, part 2) contains Alfred Master’s philological study comparing the Indo-Aryan and Dravidian etymologies of words for green beryl (phaligu, veluriya); N. Randle’s analysis of Saurastri, a Dravidian language spoken by migrants in Tamil Nadu; T. Burrow’s fourth article in his series on Dravidian studies, listing body-part vocabulary to illustrate connections with Uralic languages; and E. H. Johnston’s publication of Sanskrit inscriptions from Arakan, which illuminate the history of that region. The Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society (vol. 20, 1944) is noted for H. D. Velankar’s edition of the sixth and seventh chapters of Hemacandra’s Chandonusasana, a metrical treatise. Collectively, these summaries showcase ongoing scholarly work in textual criticism, historical linguistics, epigraphy, art history and regional history, indicating the diversity of research being undertaken in oriental studies.