1899,] Annual AJdress. 23 



his life. Tliese inemoirs were utilised b}' Al)u-1-Fazl when coniposiu.^ 

 the Akbaniania. Dr. Fianking has brought to an end his translation 

 of <he first Volume of the Muntakhnhu-t-taivarlkh, written by Abu-l-Fazl's 

 colleague, 'Abdii-1-Qadir-i-Badaoni, and a translation of the History 

 of Bengal under Muhnmniadau rule, called " The Gardens of Kings " 

 (Riijazu-s-aalritiii), has been entrusted to Dr. Bloch. 



Of putely historical papers, I may first notice the continuation 

 of Mr. W. Irvine's History of the later Moguls, dealing with the rule of 

 Fan-ukhsiyar. It was to this king, that the famous embassy from 

 Ciilcntta was sent, and one of the embassadois was Edward Stephenson, 

 afterwards for the .short period of one day only " President and 

 Governor of Foit William in Bengal." A paper by Mr. C. R. Wilson 

 relates his history, and contains some interesting cori-espondence 

 between Orme and Stephenson on the Revenue system of the Mogul 

 Empire. 



As compared with the period of Muhammedan rule in India, the 

 earlier Hindu kingdoms suffer under the great disadvantage that no real 

 historical records of those days exist. It is owing to this fact thati 

 we have to resort to Insciiptions and Coins as tlie only reliable 

 sources of information. The Society, in the daj's of Prinsep, took tlie 

 lead in this department and was the first to open a wide field of 

 research, which is now being cultivated also by various other Pjuropean 

 and Indian learned Societies. Our Society, howevei', has never quite 

 forgotten its ilhistiious ti'aditious and last year a series of interesting 

 ©pigraphical documents have been published. Dr. Theodor Bloch has 

 edited an interesting inscription which is engraved on the pedestal of (in 

 ancient Buddhistic statue excavated by General Cunningham in 1863 in a 

 place identified by him with the famous Crdvasti, the capital of Uttara- 

 Kosala. This identification, though lately disputed by some scholars, 

 rests on strong epigiaphical evidence, the fact being, as is shewn by 

 Dr. Bloch, that the inscription — a document of about the last century 

 B. C. or the fiist A. D. — records that the statue was set up in (^ravasti, 

 a statement which we have not as yet sufficient reason to set aside. The 

 etatue itself has moreover an important bearing on the subject of 

 Buddhist Archaeology which deserves to be worked out more carefully 

 and systematically than has yet been done. During last year, the 

 Society published a note by Dr. Bloch on certain Sculptures repre- 

 senting Buddha as loorshipped hy Indni, o^nA. he has been able to trace 

 this subject from Bharhut, Sanchi, and Gaya through Mathura and 

 Gandhara art, thus illustrating the intimate connection that exista 

 between the Grecian sculptures from the North-West of India and the 

 older, purely Hindu ait. 



