Bombay Presidency Research Articles

Some Indian Rhodophyceae, Especially from the Shores of the Presidency of Bombay. II

Some Indian Rhodophyceae, Especially from the Shores of the Presidency of Bombay. II

The Supposed Resting Stage of Limnocnida Indica Annandale

THE life-history of this fresh-water medusa has been a baffling problem since its discovery twenty years ago.1 The jelly-fish occurs in certain rivers flowing down the eastern slopes of the Western Ghats of the Bombay Presidency during definite seasons of the year (March to May). What happens to the species during the rest of the year has been more or less a mystery. From the fact that it occurs year after year in certain parts only of these rivers, it has been supposed that there is a fixed asexual hydroid stage in the life-cycle of the animal, which buds off medusae at the commencement of the hot weather.2 Although the medusae were kept under observation in the field, and a careful search for the hydroid stage made on more than one occasion, no clue to the mystery was obtained. Nearly eight years after the discovery of the jelly-fish, the late Dr. Annandale, as a result of further observations, recorded his opinion that the species “must have a fixed or resting stage in its life-history, perhaps with the structure of a minute hydroid, or more probably encysted in a form that would not be recognisable with our present knowledge”.3

Some Indian Rhodophyceae Especially from the Shores of the Presidency of Bombay

Some Indian Rhodophyceae Especially from the Shores of the Presidency of Bombay

The 300th Anniversary of the Birth of the Maratha King Shivaji

ON THE 17th of March celebrations were held in many parts of the Bombay Presidency, commemorating the 300th anniversary of the birth of the Maratha king Shivaji, the George Washington of Maharashtra. There exists some doubt as to the year of his birth. Hanuman, who wrote a life of Ramdas about a hundred years after the death of Shivaji, says Shivaji was born in gaka 1549, A. D. 1627. Those who believed that date to be the true one celebrated his birth in 1927. Those whose historical researches lead them to accept 1930 as the true date, made March 17th of this year the chief day of their celebrations. As Shivaji is believed to have been born in the hill fort of Shivneri, near Junnar, in the Nasik District, the celebrations there took somewhat of the form of a religious festival in his honor. The celebration on the same day at Poona took an oratorical and literary form. On that day there were issued several volumes in Marathi and English containing the results of recent research, throwing light on the many problems that center in this loved and honored Maratha hero.

Local Self‐Government in the Bombay Presidency

Local Self‐Government in the Bombay Presidency

A Fourteenth Century Marathi Inscription

The text of the Ngava inscription, alluded to at page 551 of the School of Oriental Studies Bulletin, Vol. IV, Part III, was communicated to Sir George Grierson through the kindness of the late Professor P. G. Gune. It is given below with the kind permission of the former. The inscription is mentioned at page 351 of the Kolb Gazetteer, is dated in the aka year 1289 (A.D. 1367), and was found engraved on the stone steps of Bhimesvara's temple at Ngava, 3 miles south of Alibg in the Kolb District of the Bombay Presidency. It is described in the Gazetteer as a Sanskrit inscription. But after line 4 the language is clearly archaic Marṭh. Professor Gune stated that the rubbing showed that three letters in the first line and one each in the sixth, sixteenth, and seventeenth lines have become entirely defaced.

The Pronunciation of Mabathi

The pronunciation recorded in this article is that habitually used by one of the writers, whose native language is Marathi. It represents the pronunciation of a native of Bombay who has for many years lectured in his own language in the principal cities of the Bombay Presidency. It is not an attempt, therefore, to represent the colloquial pronunciation of Marathi, but of the style of language in vogue in learned circles in public utterances.

A Case of Bovien Tuberculosis in the Bombay Presidency, India

A Case of Bovien Tuberculosis in the Bombay Presidency, India

A Mutant in Cotton

ON the Government Farm at Dharwar, Bombay Presidency, India, I have for several years had under observation pure lines of cottons of several species and varieties. One of these was Wagale, a Burmese variety of Gossypium neglectum Tod. From 1919 this variety has been self-fertilised, and only the self-fertilised, seed used for sowing in each generation, of which there has been one per annum. Like all the Indian cottons, this variety has normally had simple and stellate hairs on stem, petiole, and leaf. The variety bred true for this character of hairiness until 1925, in which season there appeared one plant which was entirely glabrous.

Waman Pandit—Scholar and Marathi Poet (17th century)

Wāman Pandit was born in the second half of the seventeenth century (the definite date is not obtainable) at the village of Kumthe in the Satārā, district of the Bombay Presidency. According to the latest research work of the Bharata Itīhāsa Samśodhak Mandali of Poona, Wāman was a native of Bijāpore. In his early days he received some training in Sanskrit from his father, who was the village-astrologer by profession, and who had considerable knowledge of Sanskrit. When about 18 he went to Benāres, the centre of Hindu learning and also the most sacred place of the Hindus. He was accompanied by his wife, an incident which shows that his parents were dead at that time. He applied himself rigorously to the study of Sanskrit for not less than twelve years, and having completed his education, in all departments of knowledge, he returned to his native place.

Sir Athelstane Baines

WE regret to record the death of Sir Jervoise Athel-stane Baines, C.S.I., the distinguished authority on Indian ethnography, which took place at Kidlington, Oxford, on November 26. Sir Athelstane Baines was in his seventy-ninth year, having been born on October 17, 1847. He was the son of the Rev. Edward Baines, and was educated at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the Indian Civil Service in the Bombay Presidency in 1870, when the first attempt to enumerate the Indian population, which extended from 1867 to 1872, was in progress. In the one-day enumeration of 1881, Baines was deputy superintendent of the census in the Bombay Presidency. The value of his work in this capacity led to his appointment as superintendent for the whole country in the next decennial census of 1891. The task of organisation occupied him for three years. This and his general survey of the results summarising the various State and Provincial reports, which was at^ once widely recognised as the work of a brilliant ethnographer and statistician, laid the foundations for much of the work of his able successors, Sir Herbert Risley, Sir Edward Gait, and Mr. Marten. Indeed to his inspiration, directly or indirectly, can be traced much of the admirable ethnographical work which has been done by members of the Civil Service. As a result of his census work, Baines was appointed to prepare the Decennial Report on Moral and Material Progress to 1891, and in 1894-5 to be secretary of Lord Brassey's Opium Commission. He was awarded the C.S.I, and retired in 1895.

On Certain Succineid Molluscs from the Western Ghats, Bombay Presidency

On Certain Succineid Molluscs from the Western Ghats, Bombay Presidency

Agricultural Progress in Western India

AGRICULTURAL conditions in India are such that any estimate of progress must be largely indirect. The bulk of the land is farmed in small holdings by peasants who keep no accounts, and sell their surplus products in local markets which render no statistical returns; again, the value of export crops, such as cotton, is subject to wide fluctuations owing to the erratic rainfall. But, by a consideration of other factors, such as the area under cultivation, changes in land values and rentals, irrigation schemes, and the standard of living, there is definite evidence of progress. Mr. Keatinge has spent thirty years in the midst of agricultural problems in the Bombay Presidency, and in this very interesting book he sets out his estimate of the progress that has been made, the obstacles to further advancement, and a proposed future policy. Agricultural Progress in Western India. By G. Keatinge. Pp. xii + 253. (London: Longmans, Green and Co., 1921.) 6s. net.

The Fauna of Certain Small Streams in the Bombay Presidency

The Fauna of Certain Small Streams in the Bombay Presidency

The fauna of certain small streams in the Bombay Presidency. v. Notes on freshwater fish mostly from the Satara and Poona districts

The fauna of certain small streams in the Bombay Presidency. v. Notes on freshwater fish mostly from the Satara and Poona districts

Some Frogs from Streams in the Bombay Presidency

Some Frogs from Streams in the Bombay Presidency

Preliminary Description of a Freshwater Medusa from the Bombay Presidency

Preliminary Description of a Freshwater Medusa from the Bombay Presidency

Preliminary description of a freshwater Medusa from the Bombay Presidency

Preliminary description of a freshwater Medusa from the Bombay Presidency

Notes on Freshwater Sponges. Part XIII. Specimens Collected in the Poona District, Bombay Presidency, By S. P. Agharkar

Notes on Freshwater Sponges. Part XIII. Specimens Collected in the Poona District, Bombay Presidency, By S. P. Agharkar

XXXVI. Observations on Plague in Belgaum, 1908—1909

(a) General description and geographical position. Belgaum is a small town and military cantonment situated in the southern division of the Bombay Presidency, 75 miles inland from the western sea coast of India. It is situated 15° 51′ N. and 74° 31′ E. It lies on a plateau 2500 feet above the sea level on the northern slope of a water-course. The town is built on laterite which lies upon Deccan trap. The country round is fertile and well wooded.