46 Literary Intelligence. [No. 1, 



history of Zend and Pehlevee literature, accompanied by translations 

 and grammars of these languages, the second to explain the 

 Zoroastrian dogmas, and to give an account of the origin and develop- 

 ment of this religion and of its relations with Vedism. 



The Royal Asiatic Society have commenced a new series of their 

 Journal, the first part of which contains a paper by Dr. J. Muir on the 

 Vedic Theogony and Mythology. This is to he followed by others, 

 the Author's object being to examine the religious ideas of the 

 Rig Veda and ' to compare them occasionally with the corresponding 

 conceptions of the early Greeks.' 



The Oriental Translation Fund Committee are, we regret to see, 

 unable to proceed with any new publications for want of funds. 

 They propose, therefore, to complete, as soon as practicable, De Slane's 

 translation of Ibn Khallikan and to close their labours. 



The following is from General Cunningham, dated October last. 



" The coins of Sophytes to which Captain Stubbs refers, have only 

 been found in the N. W. of India, as far as I am aware : and I am 

 therefore inclined to assign them to Sophites, or Sopeithes, or 

 Cuphites, the king of the Kathasi, who was contemporary with 

 Alexander. The coins themselves appear to be of the same age as 

 those of Alexander and Seleukos. 



" Thomas's article on Indian Weights promises to be interesting. — 

 I have been collecting materials for the same subject for nearly 

 20 years, and I have made many curious discoveries — I see that he 

 quotes Sir William Jones as fixing the weight of the Krishnala, or 

 Rati seed, at 1 T 5 F grain : but I am satisfied that this is a simple 

 misprint of Jones's manuscript, for If or 1.833 grain, which is as 

 nearly as possible the average weight of thousands of seeds which I 

 have tested. The great unit of mediaeval and modern times is the 

 tdka of not less than 145 grains, of which 6 make the chha-tdha, or 

 chhatak, equal to 870 grains, or nearly 2 ounces — and 100 make the 

 setaka or ser, the derivation being sat-tdka or 100 takas — For conve- 

 nience I have taken, in all my calculations, the rati seed at 1.8229 

 grain — Then 80 ratis, or 145.832 was the weight of the tangka of 

 copper, and also of the golden suvarna, which multiplied by 6 gives 

 874.99 grains, or exactly 2 ounces for the chhatdka or chhatak. One 



