Hsieh of Yin's mother was Chien Ti, who was one of the daughters of Yusung and the secondary wife of Emperor Ku. She was going with her two sisters to bathe, when she saw a dark bird drop its egg. Chien Ti picked it up, and swallowed it, and thus being with child gave birth to Hsieh. When Hsieh grew up, he was successful in assisting Yü to control the flood, and the Emperor Shun, directing Hsieh, said: “The people are wanting in affection for one another, and do not observe the live orders of relationship. You, as Minister of Instruction, should reverently inculcate the lessons of duty belonging to those five orders, but do so with gentleness.” He held in fief the principality of Shang, and was given the surname of Tzŭ (son). Hsieh flourished in the reigns of Yao, Shun, and the great Yü. His services were manifest to the people, who were accordingly at peace.

The Chinese text is that approved by the famous Chû Hsî in his “Collection of Comments” on all the portions of the Ch'û Ts'ze. I have taken it from the Hû-pei edition of his Work in 1876. In studying the poem, I have made constant use of the Lî Sâo Ching, Chang Chü by Wang Yî of our second century, and a minister of the later Han dynasty, as published in the Ch'ang-sha or Hû-nan edition of 1882, with which is incorporated the “Supplemental Commentary” of Hung Hsing-tsû of our twelfth century. My earliest study of the poem, however, was from a reprint of the Wăn Hsüan, or “Selections of Literary Compositions,” by Hsiâo T'ung, with the posthumous title of Châo-ming, eldest son of the founder of the Liang dynasty (A.D 502 to 556), containing also the commentary of Lî Shan, a functionary of the T'ang dynasty.

One of the sculptures discussed by Dr. Bühler in his highly interesting paper on Specimens of Jaina Sculptures from Mathura (Epigraphia Indica, vol. ii. part xiv. pp. 311 seqq.) bears the perfectly legible inscription bhagavā Nemeso, “divine Nemesa.” Dr. Bühler (l.c. p. 314) refers these words to the goat-headed figure just above them, identifying this Nemesa with Hariṇegamesī or Naigameshin, a divine being mentioned in Jaina legends as presiding over the procreation of children. In support of this explanation Dr. Bühler refers (p. 316) to “the occurrence of the Sanskrit words Naigamesha and Nejamesha, which in the Gṛhyasūtras and the medical Saṃhitās are the names of a deity with a ram's head, particularly dangerous to children.” “There can be no doubt,” Dr. Bühler adds, “that the Naigamesha or Nejamesha of the Brahmans, who seizes children and sorely afflicts them with disease, and the son-granting and embryo-exchanging Naigamesha - Naigameshin of the Jainas are in reality identical.”

The bronze images and fragments figured in the accompanying plates are a few specimens taken from a large collection now lying at Bezwada, all of which were found, some time before the year 1870, by some labourers employed under the Public Works Department of the Madras Presidency while excavating a canal at a place called Buddhapād, or Buddhavāni, about 20 miles westwards from the right bank of the river Kṛiṇhnā, and 30 miles from the nearest mouth of its delta.

The habitat of the Bor Khámtis, who are said to number 20,000, is in a valley high up the Irrawaddy, in latitude 27° and 28° east of Sadiya. The Khámtis that we know in Assam are those that have emigrated from “Bor Khámti” and have settled in Assam after the breaking up of the kingdom of Pong by Alomphra. These settlers established themselves early in this century on the “Tenga pani” (a river in, the vicinity of Sadiya), with the permission of the Ahom kings. Before proceeding further, it will be interesting to note that this Khámti movement is the second instance of Tai emigration that we have on record. Some considerable time previously the Ahoms, who spoke a language much akin to the Khamti tongue, and who are also of the Tai race, made an irruption over the Pátkoi range and invaded and conquered Assam. The Khámtis, who had apparently been given hospitality by the Ahoms because they were almost kinsmen, before long rose against the Ahom king, and ejected the Ahom governor of Sadiya or “Sadiya Khówa Gohain.” The Khámti chief took the governor's place and retained it. The Ahom king, not being strong enough to oust the Khámti usurper, had to recognize him. During the rule of this chief the local Assamese were reduced to slavery, and they were not released till our own Government interfered in 1839. Out of revenge the Khámtis rebelled against our Government, and the Sadiya garrison, including its commander, Col. White, was surprised and cut up.

The addition of a counter-mark to a coin already current has usually served one or other of two distinct purposes. It has occasionally merely denoted the ratification or re-sanction of a currency already legal; it has more frequently been used to show some change in the conditions of a currency—as, for instance, a change in its value as legal tender, or its circulation in a different country or under a different government. The true interpretation of many ancient counter-marks would no doubt add considerably to our knowledge of the world's history. Unfortunately their evidence is generally of that kind which suggests a great deal more than it can prove; and it must be confessed that their contribution to knowledge has been disappointingly small.

There are three Sinhalese sannas (grants of land) on copper-plate amongst the Sinhalese MSS. of the British Museum, catalogued under the press-marks Add. 11,555 a, b, and c. The sannas were presented to the British Museum by a Mr. J. Barlow Hoy as long ago as the 30th of March, 1839. But who Mr. Hoy was and how he got them I have not been able to find out. The two marked b and c are neatly engraved on smooth rectangular copper-plates, measuring by 2⅛″ and 12⅜″ by 2″ respectively, leaving in each, case a margin on the obverse side to the left, in which the royal symbol Çrī, signifying prosperity, is cut in large type. The other sannasa (a) is ornamented with a plain silver border running round the rectangular plate of copper, 16⅜″ by 3″ in size. The letters are well cut, with, kuṇḍali flourishes at the beginning and end of each line. On the left of the obverse is the usual margin, which is here separated from the text by a thin silver band right across the plate, so as to receive a large-sized Çrī engraved boldly.

Viṣṇu, the supreme god of one of the two great divisions of the Hinduism of the present day, is already a leading deity in the Rigveda, though he plays a less prominent part there than Varuṇa, Indra, Agni, or Soma. His essential character as the Preserver in Hinduism is displayed in his Avatārs or incarnations, by means of which he appears on earth as the friend and helper of humanity in distress. “For the defence of the good and the suppression of the wicked,” he is made to say in the Bhagavadgītā (IV. 7–8), “for the establishment of justice, I manifest myself from age to age.” The Brāhmaṇas know nothing of the theory of Avatārs, which are not mere transitory manifestations of the deity, but the real presence of the supreme god in mundane beings. In the great Epics, however, the Mahābhārata and the Rāmāyaṇa, the theory is already fully recognised.

Just thirty-five years ago, in 1860, the Government of India agreed to institute an Archæological Survey of Upper India, and thus to take an active part in the exploration of the numerous and extensive historical remains of the country, which task until then had been left to the desultory efforts (occasionally aided by grants from the public funds) of the learned societies and private individuals. Adverse circumstances, however, very soon counteracted the effects of this official recognition of the claims of antiquarian research to continued Government assistance and guidance. Already in 1866 financial pressure induced Lord Lawrence to stop the work which Sir A. Cunningham had barely begun. The Survey was abolished, and there followed a regrettable time of inaction, which lasted until 1870, when, in consequence of urgent representations from various influential quarters, and especially from eminent members of the Royal Asiatic Society, the Secretary of State and the Supreme Government of India consented to return to the principle laid down in 1860. The next result was the re-opening of the Archæological Survey for the Northern half of India, which was now organized on a larger scale, and the issue of orders by the Secretary of State for the registration and preservation of the historical monuments all over India. Soon afterwards, in 1873, the Government of Bombay was permitted to establish a survey of its own for the Western Presidency, and somewhat later the Government of Madras likewise directed its attention to the collection of notes regarding the antiquities of Southern India and to their scientific exploration.