Nomen clature. The general principle laid down by Dr. Haas (p. v.), that "the historical ground is the only safe one on which to build a system of uniform transcription," has been loyally carried out ;* indeed, the exception noted by him-the case of the unpronounced final ahas been in the present work treated according to the general law, and written accordingly without parentheses.+ The same general principles of nomenclature have likewise been followed, with (Haas, p. vi.) two exceptions: (1) The Bengali (and North Indian) addition of the word "Sarman" (Brahman) after the personal name has been disregarded, as conveying no useful new information, the vast majority of Sanskrit writers still being of the highest caste. (2) In the South Indian names Dr. Haas's plan of cataloguing such names under initials has been departed from. The author instanced by him (T. Kristnasawmy Iyer) now appears as Kṛishṇasvāmi Aiyar, T., the name designated by the initial being regarded as, in some sort, an epithet. The advantages of this more practical system are: (1) that it accords in general with the practice of duly qualified Europeans in South India, e.g. the compilers of the Madras University Calendar; (2) that, taken in connexion with native nomenclature in the other Presidencies, it reduces the cataloguing of Indian names to a principle at once more simple and, as I venture to think, more scientific than that of taking them "as they stand," viz., that all Indians should be catalogued under their native personal names.‡ Such names are readily distinguishable from epithets and the like by the Sanskrit scholar, owing to the fact that throughout all India in the literary classes the name given at birth is usually a compound of regular construction, and almost invariably of religious import, e.g. Devadatta (cf. Zyvódoros). It may be well to add here that personal names are transliterated on precisely the same principles as other Oriental words. A recent very able writer has tried to justify the opposite plan by assuming "the principle that everyone has a right to spell * Besides the exception noted below, a slight change has been made in transcription of those names of modern Hindus the base of which ends inn. In conformity with modern usage, the n is now dropped, though it is retained in the case of the old writers, such as Dandin, Sridharasvamin. + In certain vernaculars, however, and in personal names not directly referable to Sanskrit originals, the final a has been dropped. Compare the preface to the Catalogue of Hindi Books. That the personal name is really the chief name, even in the south of India, may be seen from the following circumstances: (1) That native converts, when they retain their old names at all, retain their personal names in lieu of surnames, prefixing to them the names which they receive at baptism, such as John or Samuel. The old prefixed (so-called) "family"-name (or rather place-name) disappears or is (apparently) cancelled. Accordingly, by the plan now adopted, works written before and after conversion would appear under the same general heading. (2) Native scholars of South India, when writing of themselves in the body of a Sanskrit work, entirely suppress their prefixed local family-name (amongst other reasons, it is usually of non-Aryan origin, and versu dicere non est), and use the personal name alone. Compare the Sanskrit dedicatory verses of R. Şivaṣṇankara Pandya's works. Attention has been already diawn by Dr. Haas (p. vii.) to the exceptional conditions of Sin halese names. his own name as he likes."* But this principle, if principle it be, must apply only to the native alphabet of the writer. When European Orientalists are so hopelessly at variance, how can we expect natives to write any words-even their own names—on a consistent plan? Some pains have also been taken to give the names of European writers with a full correctness befitting a Catalogue that forms part of the system of a large library. Orientalists who may be surprised at finding somewhat long epithets added to their names in the present work may be reminded that their literary namesakes are probably to be found in the General Catalogue of the Museum Library, the rules of which have in the main been observed here, with some slight modifications.‡ A case in point is the omission of publishers' names in imprints, which here are only added to distinguish two editions of the same year or where the book derives a special character from its mode of publication.§ A certain discretion has been reserved in mentioning or giving cross-references to the names of persons laying claim to be considered as editors. In a few cases where the "editor was partly a press-corrector and partly a prolific issuer of reprints, a mere list of the headings of the works published has been given under his name. In revising the latter half of this work much assistance|| has been derived from Dr. S. Th. Aufrecht's useful Catalogus Catalogorum. I have profited on many occasions by the advice of my colleague, Mr. A. G. Ellis, on points relating to arrangement and style; and still more often by the wide knowledge of the North Indian vernaculars possessed by my friend Mr. J. F. Blumhardt, whose work for this Department in connexion with these languages is so greatly appreciated. BRITISH MUSEUM, * G. A. Grierson, Notes on the Vernacular Literature of Hindustan, p. ix. CECIL BENDALL. In this a settled usage is generally observed. Thus, the form Chaṭṭopadhyāya is adopted because the Brahmans bearing that name always write, as Dr. Haas has shown (p. v.). Occasionally modern Pandits appear to use a Sanskritized literary name (compare Caius for Kaye). See the heading VITHOBĀ AṆŅĀ KARHADAKAR (col. 481). In the present work, as a supplementary catalogue, it has been thought best, on practical grounds, to follow Dr. Haas's arrangement, by which in the case of grammatical works, where commentaries are piled on commentaries many deep, the leading commentator is treated as an independent author. § E.g. an official character. See the numerous publications of the Departments of Public Instruction in India. || Many works, however, have been printed, especially in South India and Ceylon, of which no MS. is registered in the catalogues on which Dr. Aufrecht's work is founded. Of the Sanskrit literature extant in Ceylon very little seems to be known in Europe. The works there published deal chiefly with medicine and with astrology. CORRIGENDA AND MINOR ADDENDA. 4, line 22 (note). 62, 10. 62. 103. For Nayyadhamma, read Neyyadhamma. Heading ANANDATIRTHA, add note: A Canarese commentary on this author's For See YOGAVĀSISHTARAMAYAṆA read See GURUJÑANAVĀSISHȚA. For pp. 193 read ff. 1936. After the word Kirātārjuniya add reference: [Sargas, I.—IV.] Delete passage in parentheses and note, for vol. I.-III. read 5 vol., and correct date to 1848-72. For Buddhagosa read Buddhaghosa. (Entry Dhammapadaṭṭhakatha) add note, In progress. Delete the entries under GANAPATI-ATHARVASĪRSHA, and see now UPANISHADS (col. 430). 129, 5th entry. Similar works appear under the headings SĀMAGĀNĀM SANDHYAPRAYOGA and VEDAS.-Samaveda.-Appendix. For the press-mark read 14010. b. 4 (1). For Naganatha Bhavadvandya read Uddhava. 22. 173, line 1. 194. 224, 250. 261, 14. The heading KRISHNA SURI should be transposed intoits correct alphabetical The reference within square brackets should more suitably read thus : Heading NARASIMHA, Atmuri-Lakshmi. See now Addenda, cols. 527 and 523. 264, last 1. but 3. Delete MUкHOPADHYAYA. First entry under PADMARAJA. Make this a cross-reference to Upendracharya, and accordingly delete "compiled." Heading PULLE, second entry. Delete In progress, and add in previous line: 2 pt. To the last heading add a note: See also the headings Harischandra Tarkālamkāra and VEDAS.-Samaveda.-Appendix; adding a similar note to the last cited entry (col. 459). Add: Pt. 1. Add a cross-reference to the editor, Sathagopacharya, of the work catalogued under Mahabharata Harivamṣa, in col. 525. Transpose the second and third entries. TABLE OF TRANSLITERATION. NAGARI, BENGALI, TELUGU, CANARESE, MALAYALAM, SINHALESE, AND BURMESE ALPHABETS.* *No type is available for the representation of the Grantha alphabet. In some few South-Indian religious works a curious attempt has been made to express Sanskrit texts by the use of the Tamil alphabet: but even these rarely bear titlepages printed in that inadequate character. |