364 NOTICES OF BOOKS

Berads, who in their more northern settlement were known

by the name of Ramosi, whom they resemble in many
important particulars.
The reference on p. 95 to the burial of human victims below
the walls of the fort of Lohagad in the Poona district (p. 95)
might be strengthened by quoting similar traditions prevailing
at Satara and Vizyadurg regarding the forts at those places.
Summing up, in his concluding chapter, the defects of the
Marathas as a military power, the writer shows how dissensions,
incompetence, and lack of military prowess were the causes
of their failure. Sir Thomas Munro and Sir John Fortescue
are quoted in support of the evidence of yet another authority,
who described the Marathas as " fierce but not brave ".
The guerilla warfare conducted by hardy hillmen under
Shivaji was one thing; the badly organized armies of mixed
races, lacking artillery and skilled leadership, and devastating
the plains with their camps swollen with women and followers
out of all reasonable proportions, could hardly hope to
maintain an efficient opposition to the properly led and
disciplined troops of their adversaries.
The writer has made this abundantly clear in the conclusion
to his excellent work. It may, perhaps, be added that the
reason of the failure of the Maratha leaders to commit their
theories on strategy and tactics to writing, which the writer
deplores, may be similar to the well-known explanation of the
omission from a work on Iceland of any description of snakes
in that island. R. E. E.

INDIAN SERPENT LORE. By J. PH. VOGEL, Ph.D. 10 x 8,

pp. xiv, 318. London : Arthur Probsthain, 1926.
All students of Indian folklore will be grateful to Dr. Vogel
for this work on the Nagas as they appear in Indian literature
and art. Stimulated by the result of personal observations in
Kulu and the Western Himalayas, where remoteness favours
the preservation of ancient beliefs and customs, Dr. Vogel
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 INDIAN SERPENT LORE 365

has aimed at collecting in this volume the legends found in

BTahmanicai and Buddhist literature relating to the Nagas.
We have in consequence the leading snake stories from the
Vedas, the Buddhist birth-tales, and the early Greek travellers.
Dr. Vogel very rightly assumes that " Indian ophiolatry
had its first cause in the dread inspired by the poisonous
reptiles." This would, no doubt, be more obvious if snake
worship were considered with other forms of primitive
practices in India instead of being dealt with in his work as
a single topic. Crooke and other writers on Indian folklore
have shown that such cults as these are based originally on
fear. Dr. Vogel, who (p. 7) quotes statistics, presumably
from Government sources, in illustration of the high rate of
mortality due to snake-bite in India, shares this view. Thus
reinforced, Dr. Vogel's theory may readily be accepted. It
is, however, questionable whether the statistics should have
been advanced in support of the theory without the necessary
caution that they cover many deaths that are not even
remotely connected with snakes. Dr. Vogel's interesting
pages deal with real snakes, snake demons residing in the
water and the sky, and snakes in human form known as
Nagas. With the wealth of information now available, it might
be less confusing to the student to deal with these three forms
of Naga cults in separate parts. The snake as a reincarnated
ancestor guarding treasure or residing in the white ant-hill
is a familiar feature of Indian popular belief at the present
day. The worship of the Naga demons and the traditions
regarding the semi-human Naga people seem to form part of
a separate culture.
If a few minor criticisms of a most valuable record are
permissible, it may be observed that the common name for
the jewel in the snake's head (p. 25), i.e. the mohor or mani,
has been omitted. Aivalli and Badami, noted as in the Kaladgi
district (p. 270), are to be found in Bijapur, by which name
this district was reformed many years ago. Belgam is by
accepted usage Belgaum, and Kumpta (p. 272) is Kumta.
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 366 NOTICES OF BOOKS

We are not told whether the svastika on the snake is right-

or left-handed, surely a point of some importance in view of
the difference in significance. The Naga people suggest the
relevance of a study of snake totems as bearing on the plausible
theory of their being a primitive tribe worshipping the Naga
as a marriage guardian and ancestral spirit. Here also we
should expect a reference to tribes and castes such as the
Marathas, who have as their exogamous divisions the
Suryavanshi, Somavanshi, Brahmavanshi, and Shesha- or
Nagavanshi. We should welcome at some future date a
fuller treatise from Dr. Vogel of this very important subject.
R. E. E.

UB EXCAVATIONS. Texts I, Eoyal Inscriptions, Publications

of the Joint Expedition of the British Museum and of the
University of Pennsylvania to Mesopotamia. By C. J.
GADD, LEON LEGEAIN, SIDNEY SMITH, and E. R.
BUEEOWS. 13 x 9, two volumes, plates lix, with
photographic plates A-W; transcription, translation,
and notes, pp. 1-96, with introduction and table of
contents, and index of names.
This book contains 309 Sumerian and Accadian inscrip-
tions from the excavations of Mr. Woolley and his staff at
Ur, and range from the monuments of Mesannipadda of the
first dynasty of Ur {circa 3150 B.C.) to Cyrus the Mede in the
sixth century. Down this long corridor of time no new
important historical characters appear, but our knowledge
of the reigns of certain well-known kings is greatly enlarged,,
especially those of Naram-Sin of Agade, Dungi,1 and Ibi-
Sin of Ur, Kurigalzu of the Cassite dynasty, and much is now
known of the important work done by Sin-balatsu-ikbi,
governor of the province of Ur under Ashurbanipal, king of
Assyria, who is referred to in the governor's inscriptions as
Ashur-ban-apli, and not as Kandalanu. Particularly valuable
1
The editors adopt the reading Shulgi.
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