Omitting the various other passages in the Mahābhārata which might be cited to support our thesis, and viewing synthetically the results of our study so far, we find that, to use Hopkins's phrase, “the more important building operations” of the epic are of pronouncedly Persian character. In the excavations of Pāṭaliputra we find that the palaces of Chandragupta were of pronouncedly Persian character, as well. The Mahābhārata ascribes its buildings to supernatural agency. The Chinese pilgrims tell us that the Mauryan halls were built by genii. The general attributes, as well as the very name, of the agent, Asura Maya, are found to be directly reminiscent of Ahura Mazda. It was by Ahura Mazda's grace the Achæmenian monarchs reared the palaces of Persepolis, which served as models for the Mauryan king. The epic tells us Maya wrought his works by magic. Pāṭaliputra is “wrought by magic” in the Kathāsaritsāgara. Moreover, the description which the Asura Maya gives us of the palaces he built agrees most strikingly with the account of Chandragupta's palaces recorded by Megasthenes. Both are inferentially confirmed by the stratigraphical evidences in the soil, and by the general topography of the site, at Pāṭaliputra.

Van Den Broecke sailed to Surat and Calicut and thence to Bantam, where he landed on 18th November, to find that Reynst had died. Coen considered that the voyage had been successful. On 25th November he informed Hans de Hase on the Coromandel Coast that nearly all the merchandise had been sold at Mocha at very high prices and that the Nassau had brought to Java 23,000 rials in cash: this had been only a trial voyage, but a good cargo would be sent when there was an opportunity. On 10th December Coen reported to Holland that all the goods had been sold satisfactorily at Mocha except for some cloves, nutmegs, mace, and porcelain, which had been taken on to Surat. He described Van den Broecke as having been made very welcome by the “Viceroy of Leamen” at his capital, “Scena,” a “great, beautiful and populous” town, lying ten days’ journey inland from Mocha. He expressed surprise that the Turks should be able to keep their populous Arabian territories peaceful and obedient with such a small number of troops. Before Coen died in 1629 the Imam of San'a was to prove that the Turks were able to do nothing of the kind, even with considerably more troops; even in 1616 their power in the north was not always recognized, but it must be remembered that Van den Broecke had travelled only along one of the principal highways of the country. Of the commerce of the Yemen Coen gave his directors an account resembling that published by Van den Broeckem and discussed it in relation to the Company's interests elsewhere.

This article examines gender representation in early Chinese histories with a focus on Shiji 史記 (Records of the Historian). Presenting beautiful and evil women, rather than male rulers, as responsible for political crises is a long-standing practice of Chinese historiography. Previous scholarship contends that this practice began with such depictions in Shiji and thus stems from its model impact upon subsequent histories. By scrutinising the interplay between the two genders within royal houses, this article extends the scope of previous scholarly examination from women to their husbands, i.e. the male rulers. Comparison of the causation chains of political disasters as built in Zuozhuan 左傳 (Zuo Commentary), Guoyu 國語 (Discourses of the States), and Shiji shows that Shiji diminishes women's agency, describing them as neither the original cause of political crises nor a tool to shield rulers from criticism. Unlike its predecessors, Shiji presents political catastrophes as ruler-dominant consequences resulting from their own unrestricted desires and cross-boundary misbehaviour, explaining the rise and decay in history.

By the end of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE), olfactory culture in China had evolved significantly as coveted aromatics continued to be imported and in increasing quantities from Southeast Asia. Although there is no surviving treatise dedicated to aromatics from this period, anecdotes in prose literature describing the uses and curation of scents reveal a process in which imported aromatics were being actively incorporated into existing olfactory culture and accrued new social, aesthetic, and ritual significance. This process is discernible in two major respects. First, a discourse of connoisseurship for aromatics arose in contrast to the conspicuous consumption of imported aromatics that flaunted wealth and status. Secondly, aromatics that were once the privilege of the very few began to be circulated among a wider (admittedly still elite) population, as seen in the case of the dragon brain aromatic in late-Tang and Five Dynasties accounts. By delving into these and related prose narratives and by cross-examining these accounts against other types of records, this article examines how imported aromatic goods shaped the Tang elite's perception of how scent was—and could be—used as part of a socially rooted sensory experience.

In 2007 the translation into English of the first two books of Evliya Çelebi's (EÇ) Seyahatnâme by the celebrated Austrian diplomat and orientalist Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall was republished in the Royal Asiatic Society (RAS) series Classics of Islam. Hammer's translation was based on what is now ms. RAS 22 in the RAS Library, and was first published under the auspices of the Oriental Translation Fund (OTF) in three parts: in 1834 (as Vol. I/i), 1846 (Vol. I/ii) and 1850 (Vol. II). It includes EÇ's account of his home city of Istanbul (Vol. I) and his first trip away – to Bursa in 1640 – as well as subsequent travels during the 1640s, including to Crimea, the Caucasus and northern Anatolia (Vol. II). The Committee of the OTF agreed to buy the manuscript and its continuation, now ms. RAS 23, from Hammer in 1832.