﻿504- 



Note referred to in page 484, and corrections of 

 previous papers in this Volume , by H. Cole- 



BROOKE, Esq. 



The term (vaucd) which occurs in the passage translated by Sir 

 William Junes from the Bhaivishja Purafty undoubtedly signifies a 

 boat, and has no other acceptation. The four members of an army, as 

 explained in xh^ Amara cosha, certainly are elephants, horses, chariots 

 and infantry. Yet, there is no room to suspect a mistake in the trans- 

 lation ; on the contrary, the practice of the game called Chaturdjf, 

 confirms the translation ; for a boat, not a chariot, is one of the pieces, 

 and the game is played by four persons with long dice. Another sort 

 of Chaturanga, the same with the Persian and the Hindustani chess, is 

 played by two persons and without dice. In Bengal, a boat is one of 

 the pieces at this game likewise ; but, in some parts of India, a camel 

 takes the place of the bishop, and an elephant that of the rook ; while 

 the Hindus of the peninsula (I mean those of Camdtaca above the 

 Ghats) preserve, as I am informed, the chariot among the pieces of 

 the game. I find also, in an antient Treatise of Law, the elephant, 

 horsf and chariot, mentioned as pieces of the game of Chaturanga. 

 The substitution of a camel, or of a boat, for the chariot, is probably 

 an innovation ; but there is no reason for thence inferring a mistake in 

 the translation, or in the reading, of the passage which Sir William 

 Jones extracted from the Ba^anshja Furdn. 



CORRECTION: 



Pa^^'e 180, note (3). Sacamhhari in the modern 

 S'dmblier, famous for its salt lakes. It is situated 

 at the distance of about thirty miles west of 

 Jei/pur. 



