143 
1895. J Copper-plate grant made by Civa Simha, king of Mithild. 
tion of all Yedic research.; this is the greater testimony to his learn¬ 
ing and accuracy, when we remember that at the time when he wrote, 
there were few printed texts available, and nearly all his information 
had to be collected from manuscript materials. 
Oriental scholars feel that in losing Rudolf von Roth, the “ old man 
eloquent” of Sanskrit learning, they have lost not only a great teacher 
but a close friend. His hospitable house on the vine-clad banks of the 
Neckar was ever open to the travelling student, where the boundless 
stores of his learning were ungrudgingly placed at the disposal of the 
inquirer. He had many distinguished pupils, of whom, perhaps, the 
late Professor Whitney is the best known, and when the Philological 
Secretary was in Tubingen some ten years ago, he found there, studying 
under him, pupils of men who had been Whitney’s pupils, all of whom 
had sat in turn at the feet of the eminent Professor. 
Dr. von Roth was elected an Honorary Member of this Society in 
2881. He was ennobled by the late king of Wurttemberg in recogni¬ 
tion of his great services to oriental scholarship. The University of 
Edinburgh gave him the degree of LL.D., honoris causa, and he was 
honoured in various ways by many Continental Academies and Societies, 
but the greatest testimony to his learning, is the monument, oere 
perennius, which he has left in the pages of the St. Petersburg Wor- 
terbuch. 
The Secretary reported that Mr. N. D. Beatson-Bell had com¬ 
pounded for his subscription as non-resident member by the payment 
in a single sum of Rs. 300. 
The Honorary Philological Secretary exhibited a copper-plate 
grant, by which king (JJiva Simha of Mithila gave the village of 
Bisapi to the famous poet Vidyapati Thakkura, and made the follow¬ 
ing remarks :— 
This grant was translated by me in the Indian Antiquary, Vol. 
XIV (1885), p. 190, in an article entitled ‘ Vidyapati and his contempora¬ 
ries.’ I had then to depend on a copy procured through the agency of a 
Pandit. The Grant is dated in the era of Laksmana-Sena, 292, equi¬ 
valent to A.D. 1400. The corresponding Vikrama-sambat, (Jak, and 
(apparently) Hijra dates are also given. For reasons which it is un¬ 
necessary to state, I was unable then to get hold of the original plate. 
My attention has been again drawn to the matter by an article of 
Dr. Eggeling, No. 2864 of Part IV of the Catalogue of the Sanskrit 
MSS. in the Library of the India Office. In describing a MS. of the 
Durgd-bhakti-taraggim, he discusses the whole question of Vidyapati’s 
life and times. There is no doubt that the date of this grant gives 
