230 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [N.S., XVI, 
which form ey». occurs more than once (folio 135 a, |. 7; 
178 b, 1. 11). 
It is of course A see to dismiss these variations as the 
vagaries of copyists or the errors of printers. But it is also to 
be remembered that oriental scribes are notorious for slavishly 
following in every little detail the originals before their eyes, 
and the occurrence of the form «)» in so many different 
places may be dame eo anger the a een that the 
authors themselves were not sure that it was incorrect and 
were disposed to dey it as ‘diuiieibls, 
The upshot of the matter seems to be that these variant 
readings are not undeserving of attention, but they can be 
hardly said to decide the matter in issue. Let us then see if 
any further evidence is available. 
I have shown that the g in »S_,+ is accounted for by the 
supposed connection of the town with ‘Umar Sumra. It is not 
unlikely that the Vy in ey ye is due to the same propensity to 
oe the names of persons and places. The origin of 
the of the town is obscure. According to one local 
teaditiaii, it was first ear Surajpur or Siiryapir and was 
afterwards renamed Siar t by a pious Sultan of Gujarat 
(Muzaffar II), to make mie agree with % »«, the Arabic word for 
a chapter of the Quran. “ Another story tells that a lad 
io of th 
and succeeding in trade, raised the village into a town, and 
called it by his lady’s name.” (Bombay Gazetteer, Vol. IT, 
Surat, p. 71.) Now eye means ‘ image, form, figure, picture, 
portrait,’ and .,3), has the sense of ‘ handsome.’ (Steingass | 
Persian-English Dictionary, s.v.). Surata would, in the usual 
process of pois aes be supposed to be anjgo~o & past, ‘a 
name expressive of its qualities,’ Soe Beautiful as a 
picture.’ The Perso poets habit ually compare a lovely 
woman to an ‘ idol’ ( ~¥) or ‘ picture’ ( j ). The name of 
1 The s the 
egg i of ‘the famous Cease 3 Mahiar or Mihrji 
written with ain other old copies also of the theological compilation 
a as iemi Revayat of Darab Hormazdyar.’ 
Firiiz pore’, Denney possesses a MS 
: mb P . copy of Mirza 
-_ wr tae detec Abbas-i-Sant. In this also the name of the 
written 4)» in the section relating to the ‘ f 
Hindeatas ” Rehatsek’s Catalogue Raisonné, EV; 7, > 88. ignite 
