194
[JUNE 7, 1872.
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
of Southern India, and in a part where Europeans
DISCOVERY OF IMAGES.
have always been numerous. The first press with Devanagari type, in Southern India, was started about 1805, at Tanjor, by Raja Sarabhoji (Serboji), the well-known pupil of the great German Mission ary Swartz. His object was to print the books re quired for the elementary Sanskrit and Marātha
A NATIVE CHRISTIAN of Velangani (Tanjor) has made a curious and interesting discovery of five very ancient copper figures of Hindu deities. The images were found buried in the man's compound, but he being a Roman Catholic, objections were made by the priest to the sale of the images to the people. It was therefore proposed to break them up and sell them for old copper, when the matter came to the knowledge of the Collector (Mr. H. J. Stokes), who purchased the images for Government at the rate of four annas per seer, or the price of old copper. The figures are as follows:– Pidari, a village goddess, seated, with four arms ; in one an axe, in one a deer. Height 1 foot 9 inches. Breadth at base of pedestal 1 foot 24 inches. Weight 63 lbs. Pillayar, called also Ganapati, Ganesa, and Vighneshvara, son of Shiva and Parvati, and there fore called Pillayar, son. Height 1 foot 8} inches. Weight 43 lbs. Nadesha, figure of Shiva, dancing (Nada dancing,
Schools he had established in the Tanjor district. A small hand press (still in the Tanjor Palace) and a fount of Devanagari type were procured, probably from Madras, and this little office received the
rather magniloquent name of Nav avidyāk al āni dhi. The superintendent was a Brahman named K up på Bhatta. The first production of the press seems to have been a Sanskrit-Marātha P a ſich ä ng a, or Almanac, which was continued for several years, till superseded by those of the Bombay lithographic presses. In 1808 (year vibh a va) was printed an edition of the R a g h u v am Q a, the 19 sargas of text complete, 97 pp. 8vo. The verses are numbered, and there are two
short perpendicular lines after each half verse. In other respects it is printed like native MSS. This is the earliest edition of this poem by several years; the Calcutta edition (Gildemeister, No. 224) and Stenzler's were both published in 1832. In 1811 was printed on 8 pp. (transv.), an edition of the Tark as a ng r a ha. The copy of this which I have seen is ruled with borders in red ink, and the
isha, king), enclosed in a horse-shoe arch, crested
way by hand, a vacant space having been left by
with flames. Shiva, matted-hair, is worked into an ornamental pattern, with four arms. In one hand a small drum such as is used by fortune-tellers, with a ball made of cord and wax attached by a string to the middle, which strikes each end of the drum alternately when oscillated. Round one arm a cobra. In one hand a flame. Dances on a pro strate Rákshasa. Height 3 feet 73 inches; width 3
the compositor for this purpose. On the first page
feet 3 inches.
are two rude cuts of
Sandikeshara (or Chandikeshvara), a son of Shiva Is deaf, for which reason worshippers clap their hands in his temple to attract his attention. Is placed to the left hand of the figure of Shiva, facing south. Has hair arranged in ornament at each side of neck. Figure standing in devotional attitude. Height 2 feet 2 inches, weight 50 lbs. Amman, a goddess, standing, Height 2 feet, weight 36 lbs.
close of each sentence has been marked in the same
G a n e sa
and
Siva.
In
the same year also was printed an edition of An n a n n B h a t t a's Comment on the Tar R as a n g r a ha, similar to that of the text, oblong 22 pp. In 1812 was printed an edition of the Bhā s h fi p a rich ch he da (Karikävali), by Panch än an a Bhatta, oblong 10 pp. In 1813 (year Sri mu kh a) appeared an edition of the complete text of Mā g h a's Sisu p a la b a dha, 8vo. 106 pp. In 1814 the Ku m i r a champ ſı, attributed to Sara b ho ji himself, but really composed by one of his Pandits, was printed, 25 pp. transv. Two editions of the Am a r a kosh a (one in 8vo. and the other in folio") were also early finished ; of the dates I am uncertain, as I have only seen imper fect copies. An edition of the Mukt à vali (a comment on the Bhāsh á p a rich ch he da) was also begun, but only 454 pp. (transv.) were finished. Among the Maratha publications of this press is a translation of Æsop's fables, with rude cuts, in 12mo. The type is very good and clear; each letter is however separated, as in many MSS. All the copies I have seen are printed on European hand-made paper. The texts are tolerably correct, in some copies errors have been corrected by hand.—A.C.B. in Tribner's Lit. Rec.
The images are believed to have belonged to a Shiva temple which once existed at Velangani. Why or when they were buried is not conjectured, They were found embedded in sand three feet below
the surface. The images are believed to be very ancient. They are to be placed in the Museum at
Madras for the present. HIMALAYAN CUSTOM.
DR. CowRAN, in his “Medical History of the Himalayas,” speaking of a native tribe in the north ern district of the peninsula, says, when a mother goes into a field to work, or is otherwise unable to take her child with her, she selects some sheltered spot near a stream, in which she places a little straw for a bed for her infant, and then directs, by means of a piece of split bamboo, a current of
- Gildemeister's No. 390 must refer to one of these editions,
