390 Similarity of Greek and Sanskrit letters. [May, 



as the Hyphasis and Jumna) to the mouths of the Ganges : " quam 

 Strabo, alteram oram maritimam nomine Teo-craptoarov dicit ? nempe 

 nullam potuit, nisi quae ad Gangis fluminis ostia ubi et ZiyepTiSos 

 regnum." M. Lassen, from whose Pentapotamia T have cited the 

 above extract, thinks that the word merely alludes to the coasts in the 

 neighbourhood of Pattalene, and he identifies Sigertis with the 

 Sanskrit Trigertd fajJriT in the province of Lahore. Manners places 

 the former in Guzerat : "ad oram maritimam, quae hodie Guzerat, 

 olim nomine Sanskrit 3T5T1T (Gurjdra) appellata est, Tecr<rapjo<rTov 

 regionem refert Mannertus, quod at veritatem haud dubie proxime 

 accedit, sed nil certius de hoc nomine invenio*." 



Now by abstracting, as 1 said before, the twice repeated particle, "re, 

 or by changing T «, to the article T <>v or vys, the whole obscurity of the 

 text disappears, and the &a<n\eia ttj? Xapioa-rov Ka\ovfievr] stands forth as 

 the maritime kingdom of Saurashtra. This interpretation is surely 

 more natural than the extension of Menander's rule to the extreme 

 east of India, merely to find another maritime delta and port for the 

 graeco-latinized corruption of a name quasi Tessariostia / 



But we dare not venture on any speculations in regard to Greek 

 names or affairs, lest we undergo castigation from the Hellenic critics of 

 Paris, who are surprised at our ignorance of authors, ancient and 

 modern, Greek and German, whose works we regret to say have never 

 yet visited the banks of the Ganges ! We ' Indianistes' must then 

 leave this investigation to M. Raoul de Rochette as being altogether, 

 to use his own words, " hors du departement de nos etudes !" 



There are still two series of Saurashtra coins to be examined, but 

 I have not yet wholly succeeded in deciphering them, and my readers 

 will doubtless rejoice at such an excuse for postponing their discus- 

 sion : I cannot, however, let pass the present opportunity of mention- 

 ing, as a highly curious circumstance, the very great similarity 

 between the old Sanskrit and the Greek character. Their striking 

 uniformity becomes more palpable the farther we retire into antiquity, 

 the older the monuments we have to decipher ; so that even now, 

 while we are quite green in the study, we might almost dare to 

 advance (with the fear of M. Raoul de Rochette before us), that the 

 oldest Greek (that written like the Phoenician from right to left) was 

 nothing more than Sanskrit turned topsy turvy ! A startling proposi- 

 tion this for those who have so long implicitly believed in Cadmus, 

 and the introduction from Egypt of what, perchance, never existed 

 there. Yet there is nothing very new nor very unnatural in the 

 * De Pentapotamia Indica Commentatio, C. Lassenii, 51. 



