6i Babu Rajendralal — Report on Sa?is7crit MSS. [Makch, 



teries) in any of the districts named which contain a collection of Sanskrit 

 works : not even the Math attached to the great temple of Tarakes'vara in 

 the Hoogly district is noted for its literary treasures. The case is, however, 

 different in Rajshahi, Mymensing, Pabnah, Tirhoot, and Orissa, where some 

 of the Maths own large collections of great age and considerable value. 



Substance of MSS. Paper. — 4. The manuscripts examined have most- 

 ly been written on country paper sized with yellow arsenic and an emulsion 

 of tamarind seeds, and then polished by rubbing with a conch-shell. A few 

 are on white Kas'miri paper, and some on palm-leaf. White arsenic is rare- 

 ly used for the size, but I have seen a few codices sized with it, the mucilage 

 employed in such cases being acacia gum. The surface of ordinary country 

 paper being rough, a thick coating of size is necessary for easy writing, and 

 the tamarind-seed emulsion affords this admirably. The paper used for 

 ordinary writing is sized with rice gruel ; but such paper attracts damp and 

 vermin of all kinds, and that great pest of literature, "the silver-fish," 

 thrives luxuriantly on it. The object of the arsenic is to keep off this in- 

 sect, and it serves the purpose most effectually. No insect or worm of any 

 kind will attack arsenicised paper, and so far the MSS. are perfectly secure 

 against its ravages. The superior appearance and cheapness of European 

 paper has of late induced many persons to use it instead of the country 

 arsenicised paper in writing puthis ; but this is a great mistake, as the 

 latter is not near so durable as the former, and is liable to be rapidly de- 

 stroyed by insects. I cannot better illustrate this than by referring to some 

 of the MSS. in the Library of the Asiatic Society. There are among them 

 several volumes written on foolscap paper, which dates from 1820 to 1830, 

 and they already look decayed, mouldering, and touched in several places by 

 silver-fish. Others on John-letter paper, which is thicker, larger and 

 stouter are already so far injured that the ink has quite faded, and become 

 in many places illegible ; whereas the MSS. which were originally copied 

 on arsenicated paper for the College of Port William in the first decade of 

 this century are now quite as fresh as they were when first written. I 

 have seen many MSS. in private collections which are much older, and still 

 quite as fresh. This fact would suggest the propriety of Government 

 records in Mofussil Courts being written on arsenicised paper instead of the 

 ordinary English foolscap, which is so rapidly destroyed both by the climate 

 and also by white-ants. To guard against mistakes, I should add here that 

 the ordinary yellow paper sold in the bazars is dyed with turmeric, and not 

 at all proof against the attack of insects. 



History of paper.— 5. It is well known that originally the Hindus 

 used leaves of trees for writing upon, whence the name of letters in Sanskrit 

 has become patra, and latterly newspapers have been designated by the 

 same name. The oldest manuscript on paper I have seen is a copy of the 



