Preface. ix 



Since it was established as the channel for giving to the 

 world original discoveries in the East, there has been opened an 

 entirely new field of research, in the Buddhistical annals of pe- 

 riods antecedent to the spread of Brahminical doctrines with 

 the Sanskrit language ; and through the successful cultivation of 

 this field advances have been made in restoring the early History 

 of India, which throw into the shade the investigations of the 

 great men of the preceding thirty years. In this department 

 the Honorable Mr. Turnour of Ceylon stands pre-eminently 

 conspicuous, and Mr. Hodgson of Nipal, with Mr. Csoma de 

 KoROS,the learned author of the Thibetan Dictionary and Gram- 

 mar, have worthily prosecuted the same studies. They have 

 been illustrated and advanced by incidental notices from the 

 Burmese and Siamese records, which through the Journal have 

 been opened to the world by Col. Burney, Captain Low, and 

 others, and the results obtained from all these sources have 

 been established by the crowning discovery of all, the key to 

 the ancient inscriptions of Asoka in Pali, the merit of which 

 rests with our Editor himself. 



That our Journal should be the fortunate Publication to give 

 forth so much of novel interest in relation to the History and 

 Antiquities of the country to which it is devoted, may well 

 be a source of pride, but its claims upon the learned do not 

 stop here. The illustrations of the ancient History of India 

 would have been incomplete, if the link had not been rivetted 

 to connect its annals with the coeval authentic histories of 

 Ancient Greece and Egypt. This too has been accomplished 

 in the pages of our Journal, and mainly through the personal 

 influence and discoveries of its Editor, acting upon the zeal 

 and spirit of research which existed, or was excited in others. 



Through the Journal attention was first drawn to the coins 

 of past ages, as a means of following backward the series of 

 Indian Kings and Dynasties. Genl. Ventura, Mr. Masson, 

 Sir A. Burnes, and others, have in consequence devoted them- 

 selves to the collection of coins and relics in the countries which 

 were the scene of Grecian enterprise ; and Col. Stacy, Dr. Swi- 

 ney, Capt. Cunningham, Mr. Tregear, and many more have 

 pursued the same line in different parts of India, placing them- 

 selves all in communication with our Editor, that their dis- 



