scholarly journals Art. IV.—Alphabet for Languages not yet reduced to Writing

1898 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28
Author(s):  
Henry Morris
Keyword(s):  
General Rule ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Similar System ◽  
Good Opportunity ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
European Students ◽  
Made In ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

The subject of Transliteration has lately occupied the attention of the Council of the Royal Asiatic Society. After careful consideration they gave their approval to the system for transliterating the alphabets of Oriental languages into the Roman character, which had been recommended by the Oriental Congress at Geneva in 1895; and after suggesting a few emendations, with the object of securing consistency and harmony in some comparatively unimportant details, commended it to the favourable attention of those Oriental scholars with whom they are connected, and over whom they have any influence. This seems, therefore, a good opportunity to make an effort for the introduction of a similar system among those who are engaged in the very arduous labour of reducing hitherto unwritten languages to writing. The number of such languages is great, and work among them is annually increasing. It is, perhaps, more necessary that an attempt at unanimity should be made in this instance even than in the case of languages which, like those of Oriental nations, themselves possess old and venerable alphabets. The characters of these alphabets have come down to us from a remote antiquity, have borne the tests of time and use, and have satisfied several generations of men who have long employed them; and, as a general rule, it is far better that they should be learned and used by European students and scholars than that they should be transliterated into the Roman or any other character. But the case of “illiterate” languages, if we may be allowed the terra, is quite different.

scholarly journals Art. VIII.—Letter from the Right Hon. Sir Alex. Johnston to the Secretary to the Royal Asiatic Society

1836 ◽  
Vol 3 (5) ◽  
pp. 189-190
Author(s):  
Alex Johnston
Keyword(s):  
The Real ◽  
Ancient India ◽  
Recent Information ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Right ◽  
Made In ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

In reference to the statement, published in the last Number of the Society's Journal, of the allusion which I, as Chairman of the Committee of Correspondence, had made in my Report, at the last Anniversary Meeting, to the account given by Dr. Robertson in the Appendix to his Historical Disquisition on Ancient India, of the opinions of Mr. Baily and Mr. Playfair, as to the extreme age of the Hindú astronomical tables, I have to request, with a view of affording the readers of the Journal the most recent information upon the subject, and thereby preventing them from drawing any erroneous inference from the supposed antiquity of those tables, that you will be so good as to publish in the Journal the following statement of the very scientific and very able opinion of the celebrated M. La Place, as to the real age of the same tables. It is copied from Harte's Translation of La Place's Système du Monde, pp. 220, 221, 222. (Dublin, 1830.)

scholarly journals Art. XXI.—Some Account of the Systems of Law and Police as recognised in the State of Nepál

1834 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 258-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brian Houghton Hodgson
Keyword(s):  
The State ◽  
Separate Paper ◽  
The Public ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Careful Comparison ◽  
Satisfactory Manner ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

[With a view to obtain correct and authentic information on the subject of Nepálese law, both in its theoretical principles and practical administration, Mr. Hodgson addressed a series of questions to several individuals who were judged most capable of replying to them in a full and satisfactory manner. Copies of these series of interrogatories, with their respective answers, have been communicated by him to the Royal Asiatic Society (together with a separate paper on crimes and punishments); and the following article has been drawn up from a careful comparison of the whole, excluding as much as possible the repetitions unavoidably occurring, in many instances, in the various answers to any particular question. A reference to the works of Kirkpatrick, Hamilton, and others, will shew how little has hitherto been contributed to the knowledge of Europeans respecting Oriental systems of jurisprudence, as far as regards the kingdom of Nepal; it is therefore particularly gratifying to be enabled to produce so complete a view of the subject as has been furnished by Mr. Hodgson, whose perseverance and energy in obtaining an acquaintance with these and other matters hitherto kept sacred from all strangers, are only equalled by the intelligent and liberal manner in which he communicates to the public the information he has acquired.—Ed.

scholarly journals Art. XVIII. — Observations on some Ancient Indian Coins in the Cabinet of the Royal Asiatic Society

1836 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 381-386
Author(s):  
Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

Having found in the cabinet of the Society several of the coins which have lately been the subject of so much interesting and intelligent research in India, I have selected the accompanying for publication in the Society's Journal; for, although of themselves, and in my hands, they may not add much that is of importance to our knowledge of their origin, yet, as they are in a tolerably perfect condition, they may contribute, by a comparison with others of the same class instituted by the talented individuals who are engaged in the inquiry, to facilitate the deciphering of the legends which they offer, to determine their affinities, and to ascertain their history.

scholarly journals XVI. An Account of some Sculptures in the Cave Temples of Ellora

1830 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 326-327
Author(s):  
Robert Melville Grindlay
Keyword(s):  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Made In ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

The accompanying drawings of some of the sculptures in the cave temples of Ellora were made in the year 1813 ; since which time, until very recently, they have been in the possession of the Honourable Lady Hood (now Mrs. Stewart Mackenzie), for whom they were executed : and I have availed myself of that lady's permission to make them public through the medium of the Royal Asiatic Society.

Art. VIII.— Chinese Laws and Customs

1883 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-236
Author(s):  
Christopher Gardner
Keyword(s):  
Family Law ◽  
Great Care ◽  
Full Paper ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

When I promised to write a paper for the Royal Asiatic Society on Chinese Laws and Customs compared with the primitive Laws and Customs of the Latin, Teutonic, and Indo-Germanic Eaces, I was not aware that my friend Mr. E. H. Parker had already written on the same subject (China Review, vol. viii. p. 67). I have now read Mr. Parker's paper with great care and attention. Though he only deals with Comparative Family Law, yet this is so large a portion of my subject, and Mr. Parker's views are so in accordance with my own, that I doubt whether he has left me enough to say so as to form the subject of a full paper. I therefore propose, on this occasion, only to make a few observations.

Art. XV.—On the Revenues of the Moghul Empire

1887 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-499
Author(s):  
H. G. Keene
Keyword(s):  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

It is not without sincere diffidence that I venture to lay before Oriental scholars the following remarks. It is my misfortune to find myself constrained to oppose the conclusions of one who, when I first took up the question, was the most accepted authority on the subject—the late Edward Thomas. That learned and distinguished man has recorded, in commenting on some former notes of mine (in the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal), that I treated the matter in so discursive a way that he was unable to catch my drift. On observing this, I wrote a fresh paper for the Royal Asiatic Society—which has been unfortunately lost—in which I strove to speak out in a manner that should leave no room for misconception. Unhappily Mr. Thomas is no more among us; and one is again in the old difficulty. A hesitating delivery of opinion, which was originally caused by deference to the justly-deserved reputation of the opposing advocate, is now, in a manner, called for by respect for the memory of the departed.

XVI.—The Lycian Language

1891 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-686
Author(s):  
C. R. Conder
Keyword(s):  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Third ◽  
Short Vowels ◽  
Saint Martin ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

The subject of the Lycian inscriptions appears to have been first brought prominently to notice by Sir Charles Fellows half a century ago. The first texts in this character were copied by Cockerell, and published in Walpole's travels. These were commented on, in 1821, by M. Saint Martin, who, judging from the bilingual in Greek and Lycian from Limyra, supposed the native version of the text to be comparable with the Syriac and Phoenician. Ten years later, in 1831, Dr. Grotefende communicated to the Royal Asiatic Society a paper, published in the third volume of the Transactions, treating of the five Lycian texts then known, and lie concluded from the declension of the verb that the Lycian must have belonged to the Aryan family of speech, and that it possessed long and short vowels as in Persian. In 1838–9 Sir C. Fellows collected copies of twenty-four Lycian inscriptions, including the great obelisk of Xanthus, on which are inscribed, in letters one and half inches long, no less than 246 lines of Lycian writing, and twelve lines of Greek hexameters. A certain number of coins of Lycian cities, with Lycian inscriptions, were also recovered, and the results published in 1840 in the volume called “ Lycia.” The copy of the great Xanthus text was however imperfect, and to this, as the most important of the Lycian monuments, Sir Charles Fellows devoted further attention, and in 1842 published a larger and very careful reproduction of the monument.

scholarly journals Art. II.—Letters to the Secretary of the Royal Asiatic Society

1841 ◽  
Vol 6 (11) ◽  
pp. 11-41
Author(s):  
W. Morley ◽  
Duncan Forbes
Keyword(s):  
The Public ◽  
French Government ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
The Press ◽  
The Subject ◽  
The Mean ◽  
Mean Time ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society

Whilst I was engaged last year in making a catalogue of the Oriental MSS. comprised in the libraries of the Society and the Oriental Translation Committee, I met with the historical MS. which is the subject of the following letter. I, at that time, applied to the Council of the Society for permission to forward a description of the MS. to M. Quatremere, who is employed in editing the only portion of the work hitherto known, in the hope that he would represent the matter to the French Government, and cause our MS. to be published in the “Collection Orientale,” as a sequel to his “Histoire des Mongols.” The council acceded to my request, and I accordingly wrote to M. Quatremère on the subject, but whether on account of my letter not having reached its destination or from the press of business, he has not as yet returned any answer to my communication. In the mean time, I think it desirable that the existence of this important volume should be made known to the public, and I have accordingly drawn up the following account of the MS. for insertion in the Journal of the Society.

scholarly journals Art. XIX.—Supplementary Note to the Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya

1836 ◽  
Vol 3 (6) ◽  
pp. 387-390
Author(s):  
H. H Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Supplementary Note ◽  
Asiatic Society ◽  
Historical Manuscripts ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Royal Asiatic Society ◽  
Historical Sketch

Shortly after the paper which the Royal Asiatic Society has thought worthy of a place in the present Number of the Journal, the Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya, was printed, I procured a copy of a valuable work recently transmitted to England from Madras, “Oriental Historical Manuscripts in the Tamil Language; translated, with Annotations, by William Taylor, Missionary.” The most important of the manuscripts, now first published by Mr. Taylor, relate to the subject of my Sketch, and constitute materials highly essential to the elucidation of Pandyan history. The chief of them, the “Madura Sthala Purana,” is clearly the same as one of my authorities, the “Madura Purana;” and it seems likely that the “Pandion Chronicle,” and the “History of the Karnata Governors of Madura,” which are also amongst Mr. Taylor's translations, may be identifiable with documents in the “Mackenzie Collection,” of which I have made use.

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