resolutely maintained, although he disapproved of the doctrines taught by the Spanish doctor. It was during his pontificate that the last attempt to revive paganism in Rome was made (392-394) by Nicomachus Flavianus. Siricius died on the 26th of November 399. (L. D.*)
SIRKAR (Persian sarkar, meaning “head of affairs”), a term used in India in three distinct senses; for the government or supreme authority, for a division of territory under the Moguls, otherwise spelt circar (q.v.), and for a head servant in Bengal.
SIRMIO, a promontory at the southern end of the Lacus Benacus (Lake of Garda), projecting 2½ m. into the lake. It is celebrated from its connexion with Catullus, for the large ruins of a Roman villa on the promontory have been supposed to be his country house. A post-station bearing the name Sirmio stood on the high-road between Brixia and Verona, near the southern shore of the lake. On the shore below is the little village of Sermione, with sulphur baths.
SIRMOND, JACQUES (1559-1651), French scholar and Jesuit, was born at Riom, Auvergne, on the 12th or the 22nd of October 1559. He was educated at the Jesuit College of Billom; having been a novice at Verdun and then at Pont-à-Mousson, he entered into the order on the 26th of July 1576. After having taught rhetoric at Paris he resided for a long time in Rome as secretary to R. P. Aquaviva (1590-1608); in 1637 he was confessor to Louis XIII. He died on the 7th of October 1651. Father Sirmond was a most industrious scholar, and his criticisms were as enlightened as was possible for a man living in those times. He brought out many editions of Latin and Byzantine chroniclers of the middle ages: Ennodius and Flodoard (1611), Sidonius Apollinaris (1614), the life of St Leo IX. by the archdeacon Wibert (1615), Marcellinus and Idatius (1619), Anastasius the librarian (1620), Eusebius of Caesarea (1643), Hincmar (1645), Hrabanus Maurus (1647), Rufinus and Loup de Ferrières (1650), &c., and above all his edition of the capitularies of Charles the Bald (Karoli Calvi et successorum aliquot Franciae regum capitula, 1623) and of the councils of ancient France (Concilia antiquae Galliae, 1629, 3 vols., new ed. incomplete, 1789). An essay in which he denies the identity of St Denis of Paris and St Denis the Areopagite (1641), caused a very lively controversy from which his opinion came out victorious. His Opera varia, where this essay is to be found, as well as a description in Latin verse of his voyage from Paris to Rome in 1590, have appeared in 5 vols. (1696; new ed. Venice, 1728). To him is attributed, and no doubt correctly, Elogio di cardinale Baronio (1607).
See the Bibliothèque des Pères de la Compagnie de Jésus by Father Carlos Sommervogel, tome vii. (1896).
SIRMUR, or Sarmor (also called Nahan, after the chief town), a native state of India, within the Punjab. It occupies the lower ranges of the Himalaya, between Simla and Mussoorie. Area 1198 sq. m. The state is bounded on the N. by the hill states of Balsan and Jubbal, on the E. by the British district of Dehra Dun, from which it is separated by the rivers Tons and Jumna, on the S.W. by Umballa district, and on the N.W. by the states of Patiala and Keonthal. Except a very small tract about Nahan, the chief town and residence of the raja, on the south-western extremity, where a few streams rise and flow south-westward to the Saraswati and Ghaggar rivers, the whole of Sirmur lies in the basin of the Jumna, which receives from this tract the Giri and its feeders the Jalal and the Palur. The Tons, the great western arm of the stream called lower down the Jumna, flows along the eastern boundary of Sirmur, and on the right side receives from it the two small streams Minus and Nairai. The surface generally declines in elevation from north to south; the chief elevations on the northern frontier (Chor peak and station) are about 12,000 ft. above the sea. The valley of the Khiarda Dun, which forms the southern part of the state, is bounded on the S. by the Siwalik range, the hills of which are of recent formation and abound in fossil remains of large vertebrate animals. Though the rocks of Sirmur consist of formations usually metalliferous, the yield of mineral wealth is small. The forests are very dense, so much so that the sportsman finds difficulty in making his way through them in search of deer and other game, with which they abound. The climate of Sirmur varies with the elevation; the northern extremity has very little rain; but large and excellent crops are everywhere to be obtained by irrigation. The population in 1901 was 135,687, showing an increase of 9% in the decade. Estimated gross revenue, £40,000. The chief, whose title is raja, is a Rajput of high lineage. The raja Shamsher Perkash, G.C.S.I., who died in 1898, ruled with remarkable ability and success. A younger son commanded the Imperial Service sappers in the Tirah campaign of 1896-97, and was rewarded with the rank of honorary captain in the Indian army and the distinction of C.I.E. Attempts have been made to establish an iron foundry, and to develop mines of slate and mica.
The town of Nahan is situated about 40 m. S. of Simla, 3057 ft. above the sea-level. The palace of the raja and several other houses are built of stone in European style. It had a population in 1901 of 6256.
SIROCCO, a name applied to two quite distinct types of local wind. The first type is the characteristic wind of the winter rainy season in the Mediterranean region, and is associated with the eastern side of local depression or cyclones, in which the weather is moist, cloudy and rainy, the prevailing directions being south and south-east. The second type is the intensely dry dust-laden wind of the desert which receives this name in Sicily and southern Italy especially, where the general direction is south-east or south-west. Local winds of this latter type receive a great variety of names in different parts of the Mediterranean and surrounding regions (see Leveche, Leste, Khamsin, Simoom).
SIROHI, a native state of India, in the Rajputana agency. Area 1964 sq. m. The country is much broken up by hills and rocky ranges; the Aravalli range divides it into two portions, running from north-east to south-west. The south and south-east part of the territory is mountainous and rugged, containing the lofty Mount Abu, an isolated mass of granite rock, culminating in a cluster of hills, enclosing several valleys surrounded by rocky ridges, like great hollows. On both sides of the Aravallis the country is intersected with numerous water channels, which run with considerable force and volume during the height of the rainy season, but are dry for the greater part of the year. The only river of any importance is the Western Banas. A large portion of the state is covered with dense jungle, in which wild animals, including the tiger, bear and leopard, abound. Many splendid ruins bear witness to the former prosperity and civilization of the country. The climate is on the whole dry; in the south and east there is usually a fair amount of rain. On Abu the average annual rainfall is about 64 in., whereas in Erinpura, less than 50 m. to the north, the average fall is only between 12 and 13 in. Pop. (1901) 154,544, showing a decrease of 17% in the decade, due to the results of famine. Gross revenue £28,000, tribute £450.
During the early years of the 19th century, Sirohi suffered much from wars with Jodhpur and the wild Mina hill tribes. The protection of the British was sought in 1817; the pretensions of Jodhpur to suzerainty over Sirohi were disallowed, and in 1823 a treaty was concluded with the British government. For services rendered during the Mutiny of 1857 the chief received a remission of half his tribute. The chief, whose title is maharao, is a Deora Rajput of the Chauhan clan, and claims descent from the last Hindu king of Delhi. The state is traversed by the Rajputana railway.
The town of Sirohi is 28 m. N. of Abu-road station. Pop. (1901) 5651. It has manufactures of sword-blades and other weapons. The Crosthwaite hospital, which is built and equipped on modern principles, was opened by Sir Robert Crosthwaite in December 1897.
SIRSA, a town of British India, in Hissar district of the Punjab, situated on a dry bed of the river Ghaggar, and on a branch of the Rajputana railway, midway between Rewari and Ferozepur. Pop. (1901) 15,800. It occupies an ancient site, and was refounded in 1837 as the head-quarters of a British district. It is an important centre of trade with Rajputana, and has manufactures of cotton cloth and pottery. The former district of
