1892.] Address. 45 



becoming widely known, a letter was addressed by Pandit Radha Kissen 

 of the late Lahore Darbar to the Government of India, urging Govern- 

 ment to do something for the preservation of these MSS. ; and after 

 much correspondence a liberal grant was made for the purpose by the 

 Government of Lord Lawrence. The various Provincial Governments 

 made their own arrangements for carrying on the search for Sans- 

 krit MSS. In Madras these operations have been carried on by A. C. 

 Burnell, Gustav Oppert and Lewis Rice ; in Bombay by the celebrated 

 scholars, Biihler, Kielhorn, Bhandarkar and Peterson ; in the Punjab by 

 Kashinath Kunte ; and in Oudh by Deviprasad. In the North- Western 

 Provinces the duty was entrusted to the Librarian of the Benares Sanskrit 

 College. In Bengal the work was given to the Asiatic Society, which 

 made it over in turn to Raja Rajendralala Mitra who, assisted by 

 three pandits, one of whom travelled all over the country, published 

 several volumes of Notices of Sanskrit MSS. in the course of 19 years. 

 A very large number of private libraries was visited. Notices were 

 prepared by the travelling pandit in a prescribed form, giving a de- 

 tailed abstract of any new book that he happened to find. But the work 

 of compiling and editing these Notices, and putting them into a present- 

 able shape, was done by the Raja himself. His work has elicited just 

 praise from Theodore Aufrecht in the Gatalogus Catalogorum. The Raja 

 intended to write a critical report of the works brought to light during 

 the period he was in charge, and it is a source of great regret that he 

 has been removed from the scene of his labours before he had time to 

 accomplish his wishes. 



Inspection of Sanskrit Tols. — The attention of the Government of 

 Bengal having been directed to the decline that was alleged to be taking 

 place in the populai-ity and efficiency of the indigenous institutions 

 known as tols, in which for centuries past Sanskrit has been taught by 

 pandits of repute to succcessive generations of pupils, the Lieutenant- 

 Governor, Sir Charles Elliott, deputed Mahamahopadhyaya Mahes 

 Chandra Nyayaratna, C. 1. E., the Principal of the Sanskrit College of 

 Calcutta, to inspect and report on these institutions. For more than 

 60 years an allowance of Rs. 100 a month has been made by the Govern- 

 ment for the support of pupils in the tols of Nadiya, and this allowance 

 has in recent years been increased to Rs. 150, and again to Rs. 200 a month. 

 Grants of Rs. 500 a year each are also made to the Dacca Sarasvati 

 Sam&j and the Behar Sanskrit Sanjivan, two local associations of pandits 

 and of those interested in Sanskrit study, for the improvement of the 

 tols by means of examinations and rewards. The Lieutenant-Governor 

 intimated a wish to make a further grant in support of the tols, if it 

 should be found on inquiry that money could be usefully spent in the 



