XX Annual Address, [February, 1907. 



traditions and law, by sucb old and modern authors as Ibn Bab- 

 waih, Ibn Ta'us, Mir Baqir Da mad and Muhammad Baqir Majlisi. 

 Many of these manuscripts represent works of great importance in 

 the history of Muhammadan dogma, which have hitherto been 

 unknown to scholars. The oldest manuscript in point of date, 

 which had recently been purchased, is tLe Musir al bhiram as Sa- 

 kni ila ashraf al amakni by Ibn Towzi ; this bears the date of A.H, 

 578 (A.D. 1182). About 80 MSS. date between the 13th and 16th 

 centuries of our era. Eleven of them are autograph copies, among 

 which may be cited the following: Qiyam al Layi, by Abul 'Abbas 

 Ahmad bin' Ali al-Maqrizi (died A.H. 845, A.D. 1442) dated 

 A.H. 807 A.D. 1404, and Aswaqalashwaq fi masari' al ushshaq by 

 Bushan ud Dm Abul Hasan Ibrahim bin 'umar al Biqa'i ash-Shafi*i 



(died A.H, 885, A.D. 1480) which is dated A.H. 824 (A.D. 1421). 



In response to an application made by the Society, the Govern- 

 ment of India has agreed to place at the immediate disposal of 

 the Society the sum of Ks. 5,000 for the purchase of Arabic and 

 Persian MSS. instead of in tlie fifth year of the grant. The 

 second annual report for the oificial year 1905-06 was submitted 

 to Government and published in the Proceedings for April J 906. 



Bardic Chronicles. 



The work of instituting a search for MSS. of Rajput and 

 other Bardic Chronicles and making a preliminary survey, for 

 which the Government of India has t<raiited a sum of Rs. 2,400 

 for the first year, has not yet begun. The N'agari-pracharini 

 Sabha has been asked if it is willing to undertake the work under 

 the supervision of Major 0. B. Baldock, 44th Marwara Infantry. 







The Report having been read, and some copies having been 

 distributed, His Honour Sir Andrew Fraser, K.C.S.I., President 

 of the Society, delivered the following Address. 



Annual Address, 1906, 



I desire first of all to thank you very heartily for the honour 

 which you conferred upon me two years ago in electing me to be 

 the President of the Society. The life of the Lieutenant-Gover- 

 nor of Bengal is undoubtedly one full of occupation ; and it is 

 not a life which can be characterised to any extent by the exalted 

 pleasures of study and research. Many of his hours are occu- 

 pied with petty details of business, and some with serious and 

 sometimes anxious affairs of State ; and many of them are occu- 

 pied with engagements which, even when they appear to be of 

 a pleasant or perhaps somewhat frivolous character, are never- 

 theless entirely obligatory and unavoidable. These latter some- 

 times seem to make as great a demand on the vigour and time 

 of tlie Lieutenant- Governor, as do the duties which appear more 



