1874.] President's Address. 4t 



The first part of the Journal for last year extends over nearly 400 

 pages, and contains articles of most varied interest. Sir Arthur P. Phayre, 

 who has been a steady contributor to the Journal since 1845, has continued 

 his series of contributions to the History of Burma ; the Honorable E. 0, 

 Bayley brought several ancient coins of great value to the notice of the 

 Society ; Col. E. T. Dalton contributed an interesting paper on the Rude 

 Stone Monuments in Chutia Nagpur ; Dr. Hoernle followed up his researches 

 into the comparative grammar of the Sanskrit Vernaculars ; Chand, the old 

 bard of Delhi, has received continued attention from Messrs. Beames and 

 Growse ; Babu Rajendralala Mitra gave sketches of the condition of people 

 in ancient India, and notes on several Sanskrit inscriptions ; and Messrs. 

 Thomas and Blochmann have published contributions to the early Muham- 

 madan History of Bengal. 



The splendid collection of rubbings of inscriptions which General A. 

 Cunningham forwarded to the Society, has also for the greater part been 

 published during last year. The collection of Muhammadan Inscriptions, 

 which received valuable additions from Dr. J. Wise, and Messrs. Westmacott, 

 Heeley, Bourke, Beale, and Delmerick, have appeared with translations in 

 the Journal and the Proceedings, and will be continued by your Philological 

 Secretary during the present year. General Cunningham's Sanskrit rub- 

 bings are still in the hands of Babu Pratapachandra Ghosha as also the Cop- 

 per-plate grant of Keshab Chandra of Bengal, which was lately found in 

 Bakirganj and was presented to the Society by Mr. H. Beveridge. 



I will not take up your time with a summary of the work done during 

 last year by the Editors of the Sanskrit and Persian publications. The re- 

 port on this part of the Society's activity has just been read to you. But 

 I must say a few words regarding the researches in Oriental literature and 

 antiquities, made by some of our members, independent of the Society. 

 General Cunningham issued a few weeks ago the third volume of his Arch- 

 seological Report, which treats of the various styles of Hindu and Muhamma- 

 dan architecture and the antiquities of Mathura, the neighbourhood of 

 Allahabad, and the Buddhistic relics of Southern Bihar. The Rev. M. A. 

 Sherring of Benares, one of our Corresponding Members, published in the 

 beginning of last year, a volume on the various Hindu Castes, with inter- 

 esting genealogical tables and notes on the aboriginal tribe of the Bhars. 

 Mr. J. Beames brought out the first volume of his Comparative Grammar 

 of the modern Aryan Languages of India, which treats of phonetical chang- 

 es, and is accompanied by a singularly lucid Introduction on the Position 

 of the Seven Vernaculars. The notices of Sanskrit MSS., so well known 

 and valuable to all scholars, have been ably continued by Babu Rajendra- 

 lala Mitra. His forthcoming report on Orisa will contain a full account of 

 the antiquities of that province. Mr. Blochmann has published his work 



