Phonology of the Sinhalese Inscriptions up to the End of the Tenth Century A.D.

1945 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 580-594 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. B. F. Wijeratne

Sinhalese is a member of the Indo-Aryan family of languages and “is derived from a form of speech of which our earliest document is the Rgveda” [TND., Introduction, p. xii]. Concerning its original home in Aryan India opinion is divided. The ancient tradition regarding the Aryan immigration into Ceylon is narrated in the old Pali Chronicles, Dīpavaṁsa, ix, 1 sq., and Mahāvaṁsa, vi, 1 sq. It is not necessary to discuss all its details here. Different interpretations of this legend have been advanced by various scholars. The main point of controversy is the identification and location of Lāḷa, the homeland of Vijaya. H. W. Codrington [“A Short History of Ceylon ”, pp. 6 sq.], W. Geiger [SghD., vol. 1, pt. 1, pp. xvii–xviii; also SghG., pp. vii–xi, pp. 1–3], and S. K. Chatterji [ODBLang., p. 15, pp. 72, 73 fn.], who identify Lāḷa with Lāṭa (Gujarat), maintain that the first Aryan colonists under the leadership of Vijaya came from Western India. On the contrary, E. Müller [Aic, pp. 23, 24; also IA., xi, p. 198], Rev. R. Siddhartha [“ The Indian Languages and their Relation with the Sinhalese Language“ in JRAS. (Ceylon Branch), xxxiii, No. 88, 1935, pp. 123 sq.], and M. Shahidullah [“The First Aryan Colonization of Ceylon” in IHQ., ix, 1933, pp. 742 sq.[, identifying Lāḷa with Rāḍha (West Bengal), contend that they came from Eastern India. Various arguments and explanations are propounded by them in support of their individual theories, and they all admit some measure of historical truth underlying the tradition.

1935 ◽  
Vol 67 (4) ◽  
pp. 655-666
Author(s):  
A. C. Banerji

The latter part of the tenth century of the Christian era gradually ushered in a new epoch in the history of India. In northern India the old kingdoms, which had dominated the political arena so long, made their exit, and new powers rose to take their place. The struggle between the Gurjaras and the Rāshṭrakuṭas ended fatally for both the contending parties. The great empire of Bhoja and Mahendrapāla had shrunk into the little principality of Kanauj. Its place was taken by the Chāndellas, the Haihayas, and the Chāhamānas, etc. The Pāla empire, too, in eastern India, had fallen on evil days. The land south of the Vindhyas was no exception from this. The Cholas of Tanjore who were to reach the height of their glory in the succeeding century, were gradually consolidating their position in the extreme south. While a new Chālukya dynasty claiming relationship with the older one eclipsed the supremacy of the Rāshṭrakuṭas in the Deccan. The history of the tenth and eleventh century a.d. is full of internecine warfare, which paved the way for Muslim conquest of India.


MAUSAM ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-54
Author(s):  
AJIT TYAGI ◽  
D.R SIKKA ◽  
SUMAN GOYAL ◽  
MANSI BHOWMICK

Nor’wester studies have a long history of climatological, synoptic and radar observations. These studies have been briefly mentioned and the field programs for the study of Nor’westers implemented in India Meteorological Department (IMD) from 1931-1941 have been touched upon. Indian atmospheric science community organized a multi-year STORM program during 2007-2010 to understand the formation of these severe local storms and also understand their dynamics through modeling. An attempt is made to use INSAT Infrared and Visible imageries to document the convective cells which developed over Eastern and North-East (NE) Indian states and adjoining countries of Bangladesh, Bhutan and Nepal for the year 2009. Also convective cells which organized themselves into Mesoscale Convective Complexes (MCCs) for the four years period 2007-2010 have been studied. It is found that by and large Eastern India (Jharkhand, Orissa, Sub Himalayan West Bengal and Bangladesh) is responsible for the initiation of convection. Development occurs as the cells propagate over the neighbouring areas of Bangladesh and NE India. Important observations with regard to initiation, maturity and dissipation etc. of the MCCs are provided. It is suggested that half hourly to hourly monitoring of convection can be accomplished by using INSAT imagery, along with multiple overlapping radar coverages, which could help in nowcasting of convective cells. Synoptic and thermodynamic forcing can help as broad guidance. The only effective way for effective warning is nowcasting using satellite and multiple radar coverage.


1999 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 82-87
Author(s):  
D. Seyfort Ruegg

The date of the demise, or (Mahapāri)Nirvāṉa, of the historical Buddha Śākyamuni is one of the key chronological markers in early Indian history, one which has therefore been of pivotal importance to modern scholarship on ancient India. Whilst the dates of the conquest of Gandhāara and Sindh by the Achaemenid empire and the dates of Alexander's campaigns in the subcontinent are among the very oldest established for the history of north-western India, that of the Nirvāna of the Buddha has long been regarded as the oldest more or less fixed chronological value in the history of north-eastern India. The dating of the Buddha has a crucial significance for the dates of certain ancient Indian kings-Bimbisara of Magadha and Prasenajit (Pasenadi) of Kosala -and for that of the Jain Tīrthaṅkara Mahāvīra, for the development of Jainism and the Śramaṉa movement, and for the earlier history of the Brahmanical religion and the oldest Indian philosophy, including the thought of the Upaniṣads. Moreover, quite apart from its importance for South Asia alone, the consensus (apparently) obtaining among scholars about the time of the Buddha contributed to the elaboration by Karl Jaspers, in his book of 1955 entitled Vom Ursprung und Ziel der Geschichte, of the concept of an Axial Age (‘Achsenzeit’) around 500 B.C. when a number of epoch-making events are thought to have taken place in the ancient Eurasian world.


F1000Research ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
pp. 371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Feroza Begum ◽  
Debica Mukherjee ◽  
Dluya Thagriki ◽  
Sandeepan Das ◽  
Prem Prakash Tripathi ◽  
...  

India has recently started sequencing SARS-CoV2 genome from clinical isolates. Currently only few sequences are available from three states in India. Kerala was the first state to deposit complete sequence from two isolates followed by one from Gujarat. On April 27, 2020, the first five sequences from the state of West Bengal (Eastern India) were deposited on GISAID, a global initiative for sharing avian flu data. In this study, we have analysed the spike protein sequences from all five isolates and also compared their similarities or differences with other sequences reported in India and with isolates of Wuhan origin. We report one unique mutation at position 723 and another at 1124 in the S2 domain of spike protein of the isolates from West Bengal only.  There was one mutation downstream of the receptor binding domain at position 614 in S1 domain which was common with the sequence from Gujarat (a state of western India).  Mutation in the S2 domain showed changes in the secondary structure of the spike protein at region of the mutation. We also studied molecular dynamics using normal mode analyses and found that this mutation decreases the flexibility of S2 domain.  Since both S1 and S2 are important in receptor binding followed by entry in the host cells, such mutations may define the affinity or avidity of receptor binding.


Crustaceana ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 94 (11-12) ◽  
pp. 1345-1357
Author(s):  
Santanu Mitra ◽  
Peter K. L. Ng

Abstract The hymenosomatid crab Neorhynchoplax devroyi sp. nov. is described here from West Bengal in eastern India. The species is most similar to N. demeloi Kemp, 1917, described from Cochin in western India, but can easily be distinguished by its proportionately longer and more slender ambulatory legs, truncate cutting teeth on the chelipeds, relatively broader first pleonal somite and the distal part of the male first gonopod being stout and short. Ten species of Neorhynchoplax Holthuis, 1968, are now known from Indian waters.


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