the Rákshasas in Ceylon to anti-Buddhist ten dencies.
6.
It is uncertain in how far the story
of Rá m a and S i t à,
as contained in its
earliest form in the Dağ a rath a-Jä taka, may have a historical germ, or whether even that earliest version may not also have had as its ground work, in addition to such a germ, what W film i ki has undoubtedly interwoven into his representation of the story, namely, the adoration of a demi-god, bearing the name of R ima, and regarded as the guardian of agri culture, but hindered in his beneficent activity by a temporary exile (possibly the Winter 2), and also of the name of S i t à.
253
ARCHAEOLOGY IN BOMBAY.
AUGUST 2, 1872.]
field-furrow deified
under the
7. The extreme mildness, which is the pro minent feature in Rāma's character as represent ed by Vālmīki, is in this form an inheritance
from the Buddhist legend.” It is possible that, in the course of time, Christian elements may also have found their way into the representa
tion (Šabari, Sambuka &c.) 8. Vālmīki appears to have belonged to a school of the Yajurved a, the sagas of which The has interwoven into his narrative (añgarāga, Janaka, A š V a pati); and we may conclude that his birth-place was probably somewhere in the neighbourhood of A y o d h y á. Note. Professor Weber contributes to the Literarisches
Centralblatt of 30th Dec. last, a notice of “The Dasſa
ratha-Jātaka being the Buddhist story of King Rāma; the original Pāli text, with a translation and notes by V. Fausböll, Kopenhagen, 1871." In this notice,
ARCHAEOLOGY
referring to the fact that the account furnished by D'Alwis had already shown that one of the verses of the Dasaratha-Jätaka was reproduced in the Rāmāyana, Weber quotes his own conjecture (ante p. 124), that “an acquaintance with the whole of the Pāli text might bring to light still further coin cidences of a similar nature.” This conjecture, he here says, has been fully confirmed. According to Fausböll, there are two other verses in this Bud dhist version which are found also in the Rama
yana ; for although the parallel is not so close as to be a word for word reproduction, yet the verses are identically the same in substance as those in the Pāli text.
These are, v. 5 of the Dasaratha-Játa
ſea found in Râmâyana, II. 105, 15 (Schlegel and also in the corresponding chapters in Gorresio and Carey-Marshman); and v. 10 in Râm. II. 108, 3 (Schlegel, and in both the other editions). And it is further worthy of notice that both the remaining portion of Röm. II. 105 contains several additional
distinct allusions to the words of the Pāli text, and that the verse of the Ramayana which corresponds to the 10th verse of the Dasaratha-Jūtaka is put into the mouth of Jābāli, who is represented in the Brahmanical poem as the representative of the n à stika-wisdom, and whose words give occa tion to Rāma's sharp retort and to his well-known
attack upon Budd h a
yathá hi corah sa tathâ hi Buddhas, tathâ- . gatam nāstikam atra viddhi. It is true, says Weber, that Schlegel has cast suspi cion upon the authenticity of this passage; but whe ther he was justified in doing so appears at least ques tionable in the light of the new information we have on the subject. At all events the whole of this section of the Ramayana has now acquired special importance ;
and a collation of all the available
manuscripts of the same is therefore greatly to be desired.
IN BOMBAY
-
PRESIDENCY.
(Ectract from the Administration Report for 1870-71.) THE materials collected from an examination of
the ancient temple of Ambarnath, by the party of artists sent to that place in 1868, and mentioned in
the Administration Report of that year, have been utilized. Six sets of the casts and photographs of
cutta and Madras. It has been proposed to cause copies of the architectural drawings to be made in England, by the carbon or other process for distri bution among learned persons and institutions and Illu Sellins.
the termple have been completed, and one set of architectural drawings made. One of each of the former and the single set of drawings were sent to England for the last International Exhibition, to be
At the request of Government Mr. Burgess drew up, in August 1870, a Memorandum on the Survey of the Architectural and other archaeological re mains in the Bombay Presidency and surrounding
eventually handed over to the Secretary of State
territories, appending amongst others “a list of places chiefly in the Nizam's territory, at which Himadpanti or other remains are said to exist.” At a subsequent date the same gentleman addressed
for India. Out of the remaining photographs and casts, two sets have been already ordered to be sent to England and one to each of the museums at Cal
- The circumstance, too that the Rāma-worship has never
degenerated, either like that of Krishna into sensual excesses, or like that of S'iva into bloody orgies, is undoubtedly due
to the earnest moral tone which as a beneficium ab origine, it preserves as a heritage from the same source,
-
