Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan, or the Central and Western Rajput States of India v1.c20.s3.144

v1.c20.s3.144

¹ [The author borrows from Elphinstone, *Caubul*, i. 118.] The literary world is much indebted to Mr. Erskine for his *Memoirs of Baber*, a work of a most original stamp and rare value for its extensive historical and geographical details of a very interesting portion of the globe. The king of Ferghana, like Caesar, was the historian of his own conquests, and unites all the qualities of the romantic troubadour to those of the warrior and statesman. It is not saying too much when it is asserted, that Mr. Erskine is the only person existing who could have made such a translation, or preserved the great charm of the original—its elevated simplicity; and though his modesty makes him share the merit with Dr. Leyden, it is to him the public thanks are due. Mr. Erskine's introduction is such as might have been expected from his well-known erudition and research, and with the notes interspersed adds immensely to the value of the original. [A new translation by Mrs. Beveridge is in course of publication.] With his geographical materials, those of Mr. Elphinstone, and the journal of the *Voyage d'Orenbourg à Bokhara*, full of merit and modesty, we now possess sufficient materials for the geography of the nursery of mankind. I would presume to amend one valuable geographical notice (Introd. p. 27), and which only requires the permutation of a vowel, *Kas-mer* for *Kas-mir*; when we have, not 'the country of the Kas,' but the *Kasia Montes* (mer) of Ptolemy: the *Kho* (mer) Kas, or Caucasus. *Mir* has no signification, *Mer* is 'mountain' in Sanskrit, as is *Kho* in Persian. [The origin of the name Kashmīr is very doubtful: but the view in the text cannot be accepted (see Stein, *Rājataranginī*, ii. 353, 386; Smith, *EHI*, 38, note; *IA*, xliii. 143 ff.).] *Kas* was the race inhabiting these: and *Kasgar*, the *Kasia Regio* of Ptolemy [Chap. 15]. *Gar* [or *garh*] is a Sanskrit word still in use for a 'region,' as *Kachhwahagar*, *Gujargar*. [See Elliot, *Supplementary Glossary*, 237.] A new edition of Erskine's translation, edited by Professor White King, is in course of publication.