1877.] H. Blochmann — DelmericTc's Hdnsi Inscriptions. 1 17 



the country where no care is taken of them. The subject, however, re- 

 quires very much more attention than has been paid to it. One point to 

 be remembered is that in many parts of India, around large European 

 stations, there has been so great an admixture of the blood of European 

 races, that a pure-bred pariah is a rarity. 



It has long been known that we are probably indebted to the early 

 inhabitants of India for two domestic animals, the buffalo and the peacock ; 

 the origin of the humped cattle is obscure, and the common fowl appears to 

 be descendant of the Burmese and not of the Indian race. If Professor 

 Jeitteles be correct in his views it appears highly probable that India will 

 also claim the ancestry of some of our most valuable races of dogs. The 

 chief reason for calling the attention of the Society to the subject is in 

 order to suggest a further study of the pariah dogs of India. A good 

 collection of skulls may aid considerably in working out the question of 

 the dog's ancestry, and much light may be thrown upon the subject of the 

 derivation of the races of men who inhabited Europe in the bronze age 

 by determining the source whence they procured their domestic animals. 



Mr. Blochmann exhibited some Arabic and Persian Inscriptions from 

 Hansi, received from Mr. J. G. Delmerick, Dihli. 



Ha'nsi'. 



Abul-Fazl, in his Am-i-Ahlari, and Amin RazI, in his Saft-IkUm, 

 speak of Hansi as a place famous in ancient times. It is first mentioned 

 in 427 H., or A. D. 1035-36, when Mahmud of Ghazni took the fort of 

 Hansi, which up to that time had been known as the ' Virgin.' A short 

 description of the conquest is given in the Tdrikh-i-Baihaki ; i^^We Dowson, 

 Elliot's History of India, II, 140. 



From a Prithwi Raja inscription of Samvat 1224, or A. D. 1167, pub- 

 lished in the As. Researches, Vol. XV, and in the Transactions of the R. As. 

 Socy. (Vol. I, pp. 133, 461), it would appear that Hansi was also called Asi, 

 and that Prithwi Raja had a palace there. Vide also Cunningham, Arch. 

 Reports, Vol. V, p. 142. 



Hansi is frequently mentioned in the fights preceding the final capture 

 of Dihli in 589 H. (A. D. 1193). The oldest inscription found by Mr. 

 Delmerick belongs to 593 H., or A. D. 1197 ; vide below Inscr. I. 



In the end of the reign of Iltitmish (about A. D. 1236), Malik Saif-ud- 

 din is mentioned as zdbit ( iaJl^ ), or governor, of Hansi (Baddoni I, 70). 



From the inscriptions given below it appears that 'Ala-uddin Khilji, 

 in 1303 A. D., repaired the fortifications of Hansi. 



Under Kutb-uddin Mubarak Shah I. (1316 to 1320), we hear of a Ma- 

 lik Nizam-uddin Shukri Hansiwal. He built the Shukri mosque at Hansi, 

 which was called ' Shukri' (' thanksgiving'), because the five daily prayers 



