28 Letters of Sir Wizt1am Jones to Samvet Daris, Esq. 
leisure to add those which are certainly ancient and of Hindu origin. To 
save you trouble, -I will translate word for word all the Sanscrit verses, and 
write the translation in a separate book, which I will deliver to you to- 
gether with the original. Do you know when the Jayasinha, or Jysingh, 
lived, who patronized science and ordered the Brahmans to compile books 
on Mathematicks and Astronomy? Iam told, not above sixty years ago; 
if so, he probably had European globes or planispheres; and I suspect, 
that the works procured by Wilford were compiled by his order. You 
will be surprized to see the Great Bear (as complete a bear as that which 
attacked you at Pandua*) with a very short tail and with the seven Rishis 
and little Arundhati on his back. The single stars, with the names of gods 
and sages, as Agastya, Garga, Prajapati, Indradyumna and his wife, &c. 
are, I conceive, to be found in the oldest Hindu books: then follow the 
asterisms, concerning which there are legends in the Brahmdnda Purdn and 
others: but most of the southern constellations must have been named in 
very modern times. That the haughty Brahmans should have borrowed 
any of our names and configurations is a very curious fact, and may incline 
us to doubt their unwillingness in ancient times to borrow any thing of 
their neighbours: I also think it a fact of some consequence, that their 
longitudes and latitudes are so variously and inaccurately laid down, as it 
may enable us to appreciate the correctness of their boasted observations. 
I am very glad that the numbers of degrees are expressed in words at length 
(mountains, oceans, fires, arrows, suns, &c.), and in verse, since errours are 
less likely to have been introduced by transcribers than if they had 
only written tables in figures. On these and other topicks I hope to con- 
verse, when I have the pleasure of seeing you in the course of this month: 
I trust you will give me a day at my pleasant farm, and will come, like 
Crishna, decked with holy Tamd/a blossoms. We had a very good meet- 
ing on the 20", and I drank your health in a full glass of liquid rubies from 
Shiraz. Believe me to be ever, my dear Sir, 
Your faithful and 
obedt Servt 
W JONES. 
* Mr. Davis, while exploring some ruins near Gaur, was attacked and wounded in the leg by 
a bear, who had taken up his abode in a dark recess. As soon as Mr. Davis had recovered 
from his wounds, he returned to the spot, sought out the bear, and shot him. The wound 
Mr. Davis received was so severe, as to render him lame for life. 
