chûrņņi || yasyâyam avanipati-parishadi nigraha-mahînipâta-bhîti-dustha-durggarvva-parvvatârûḍha-prativâdi-lôkaḥ pratijñâ-ślôkaḥ || tarkkê vyâkaranê kṛita-śramatayâ dhîmattayâpy uddhatô madhyasthêshu manîshishu kshitibhṛitâm agrê mayâ sparddhayâ | yaḥ kaśchit prativakti tasya vidushô vâgmêya-bhangam param kurvve 'vaśyam iti pratihi nṛipatê hê Haimasênam matam 'Unruffled by accusers, of a form like the placid beautiful moon, and a place of fortune, having attained the wealth of learning and the path of purity,-such was the mahâ muni Hêmasêna. Whose verse (as follows), pledging himself in the king's assembly, caused the world of opponent speakers to take refuge in the inaccessible mountain-the fear they had of being thrown to earth. In logic and grammar having taken great pains, being also well trained and raised above men of mediocrity, the proposition stated by me before the king whosoever replies to, the argument of so learned a man will I without fail break down :-such, O king, understand, is the Haimasêna creed.' Circumstantial as these various statements are, owing to the names of the kings referred to not being mentioned, it is difficult to identify the court or period at which Hêmasêna and Vâdirâja flourished. But to return to Nripatunga's list of early poets. After Śrîvijaya come Kaviśvara and Pandita, if these words have been rightly taken as names. There was an Îsvara kavi, but he was later than Kêśirâja, as he calls himself Abhinava Kêśirâja. He cannot therefore be the one here intended. Pandita is too indefinite as a name to allow of its being satisfactorily traced. Chandra may be the Chandrabhaṭṭa mentioned by Kêsirâja. Of Lôkapâla nothing is known. It should be here stated that though the names given have been formed out of the present verse, and also in the case of the previous ones quoted, by a different division of the words other names might be formed. At present there is nothing to guide us as to the exact names intended in some of the combinations. But our author goes on to make certain statements which are of great interest for the history of the Kannada language. The following verses may be quoted on the subject: Kâvêriyindam â Gô- | dâvari-varam irdda nâd ad â Kannadado!! vidita-mahâ-Kopaṇa-nagaradâ Puligereyâ | dada naḍuvaṇa-nâḍe nâḍe-Kannaḍada-tiru! || The region which extends from the Kâvêrî as far as the Gôdâvarî is the country in which Kannada is spoken, the most beautiful land in the circle of the earth. In the central parts therein, lying within Kisuvolal, the famous great city of Kopana, Puligere and the justly celebrated Onkunda is found the pith (tirul) of high Kannada.' Of the places here mentioned Kisuvolal is the modern Paṭṭadakal in the Kalâdgi district: the city and hill of Kopana are several times mentioned as places of importance in the Jaina inscriptions at Śravana Belgola; I am inclined to think it was near Mulgunda in Dharwâḍ1: Puligere is the modern Lakshmêśvara in the Mîraj State in Dharwâḍ: Onkunda I cannot identify, but it may have been in Belgaum. The verses continue as follows, giving further particulars as to a wide-spread culture among the people : padan aridu nudiyalum nuḍi- | dudan arid ârayalum ârppar â nâḍavargal | t-ôdadeyum kâvya-prayôga-pariṇata-matiga! || 1 Possibly Kopal in Mudgal in the Nizam's Dominions. Could this be the city visited by Hiouen Tsiang and called by him, through some mistake, Konkanapura, which has never yet been identified? kuritavar allade mattam | perarum tam-tamma nudiyol ellam jâņar | maripalk arivar vivêkamam mâtugalam || Sakkadamum Pâgadamuma- | n akkum bagedante samari-pêlal munnam | takkantavara vara-lakshyamam lakshanamam || arid âdam Kannadado- | tiri-koregond ariye pêlven embud id ârggam | paramâchâryyaravol sayi- | t iral ariyar Kannaḍakke nâḍavar ôjar || 'Apt are the people of that land in speaking as if accustomed to verse, and in understanding it when spoken; clever in truth are they, for they are ripely skilled in the usages of poetry without giving themselves up to its study. Not only students but others are all skilful in their speech; and know how to teach both wisdom to young children and words to the deaf. To compose at will in Sanskrit or Prâkrit may be done, and in conformity with the true old canons, which is the aim and mark of the able. But very rare is this (power) in Kannada, for to whom is it given to say I will write in it with soft expression as to be understood? The (only real) professors for Kannada are the people of that land, and they know not how to keep silent after the manner of great âchâryas (i.e. they are ever ready to impart instruction).' Without going again over the ground covered by my former article on the poet Pampa, it may be here pointed out how remarkably the above statements are confirmed by what he says in his Vikramârjuna-vijaya, written in 941 A.D. For he professes to write "naturally and without effort, in the pith (tirul) of the Kannada of Puligere, the royal city." He also states that his works "were read by all classes of the people, by servants as well as by the greatest poets." Another evidence of the spread of a cultivated taste may perhaps be found in the beautiful style in which the inscripVOL. XXII.-[NEW SERIES.] 18 tions, whether on stone or copper, of the time of the Ganga king Śrî-Purusha (who reigned during the greater part of the eighth century), are engraved. And here it may be permitted to leave this interesting subject. From the tenth century onwards the information already published provides ample materials for the history of the language and literature. Down to that time the present article will I hope show that a mine of unexplored wealth awaits the researches of scholars. ART. VI.-Was the Book of Wisdom written in Hebrew? By D. S. MARGOLIOUTH, M.A., M.R.A.S., Laudian Professor of Arabic at Oxford. $ 1. THAT the Proverbs of Ben-Sira were written in some kind of Hebrew has never been seriously questioned, and the number of sources in which clues to the original have been preserved would be sufficient to silence any doubts that might be raised. It would be natural to suppose that the Book of Wisdom, which bears so close a relation to those Proverbs, which enlarges on so much that Ben-Sira suggests, and endeavours to be deep where he is shallow, appealed to the same public, and was composed in the same language. But although this theory would receive a primâ facie plausibility from the Hebraisms with which the pseudo-Solomon's style abounds, his affectation of Greek eloquence, noticed by very early critics, his allusions to Greek customs, and his reminiscences of Greek authors, have seemed to put it out of court; and the best editors of this century only mention. this theory to reject it. In the last century, however, it was supported by some eminent names; and early in this found an advocate in Bretschneider, the author of three dissertations on the Book of Wisdom, who had an adherent in Engelbreth. Bretschneider's arguments in support of a Hebrew original for Wisdom' were by no means convincing, for he produced no case in which a Hebrew word appeared to be mistranslated, but only cases where he fancied the supposed original was corrupt and required emendation; this made his restorations suffer from a compound improbability, whereas had he first obtained a solid basis for his hypothesis, the method would have been unobjectionable, as it seems in one or two cases to have been successful. Whether any one |