Mat, 1873.] HINDU PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK. 143 of Gopiilasvami in Devandahalli, and fairly repre¬ sents all similar sculptured figures. The Rishi is represented with a deer’s head ! Narve is still a village, and goes by that name. It is about 12 miles from the shrine at Kigga, which is itself about (5 miles from Sringeri, the seat of the great Sankaracharya. It only remains to say that the Linga in the temple is a long cylinder, over three feet above ground, and some part of it must besides be buried under the Pitham. Its surface is rough, and the credulous are asked to believe, with the aid of the light reflected from a large mirror, that the inequalities on the Linga are nothing less than the actual avatars of Siva, his consort, and his bull! There are some fine carvings and inscriptions in the vicinity. The shrine is largely endowed with lands, partially free from government re¬ venue. It would be difficult to find lovelier and more enchanting scenery than that which the traveller suddenly comes upon in these re-, gions. The Tungabhadra above referred to is only the Tuhga—far above its confluence with the Bhadra. HINDU PRONUNCIATION OF GREEK, AND GREEK PRONUNCIATION OF HINDU WORDS. BY Dr. A. WEBER, BERLIN. Translated from the German bu E. RchatseJc, M.C.E. It is well known that in consequence of Alexan¬ der’s campaigns the Greeks, for a considerable time, maintained close relations with India. Greek sovereigns reigned during more than two centu¬ ries iu the north-western provinces of India, and even far down in Western India; Greek ambas¬ sadors were .sent to tho courts of Hindu kings ; Greek merchants, Greek art and scienco, influenced Hindu life directly, partly from the Panjab and partly through Alexandria. This influence was undoubtedly more considerable than is usually supposed; it extended itself not merely to practical branches, c.g. to the coining of money,* to archi¬ tecture, to dramatic representations, to astrono- mico-astrological notions, &c., but also to purely mental divisions of knowledge,+ such as the trans¬ mission of various western narratives, fables, tra¬ ditions, and other legendary or religious matters. In return for this, various Indian materials as well as intellectual products found their way through commerce from the East to the West; but although the influence of the West upon India may have dominated in pre-Christian times, it seems, on the other hand, that in post-Christian ones (exceptions of course also existing) Hindu influence upon the West had conversely ar stronger current. Many possessions which had originally come to the Hindus from the West now again migrated back, but in the new shape which they had meanwhile assumed in India. Thus it could not fail to happen that numbers of Greek words and names should find their way to
- Even the silver coins of the Guptas show Greek
traits. f The king of Palibothra, to whom, in the first century of India, and conversely many Indian ones came to the West. Now, the form in which they appear in both localities bears the stamp of the pruiiun- ciatimi of the time, and may therefore throw a certain light thereon; that light cannot of course be very decisive, inasmuch as in general but very scanty auxiliary means, e. g. legends on coins in the imperfect and difficult Aryan characters, are at our disposal; and further, because in the recep¬ tion and subsequent transmission of foreign vocables their phonetic values were retained merely in a general way, while at the same time they suf¬ fered considerably both from popular etymological assimilation to words current in the vernacular, and from unintentional deterioration in the mouths of the unlearned. I desire the following data concerning this sub¬ ject to be considered merely as a first attempt waiting for, and in need of, being supplemented in many ways. It is hoped that the systematic ex¬ cavations begun lately in India in the ancient Greek dominions will produco a rich harvest of coin-legends, and will be lucrative also in other analogous respects. May a propitious star guide the archaeological expedition lately started to those localities under Cunningham’s skilful direction, and may thereby the conception of a Corpus in- scriptionum Indicarum, executable only in India, appear so feasible to tho leading powers of the Indian Government that this pium deside- rium, so long and painfully felt in scientific circles, at last be brought to a completion ! our era, the shipwrecked Iambulos was brought, “ was a friend of the Hellenes and esteemed their science.” (Lassen, Ind. Alt. K. III. 254.)
