74 Babu Rajendralal — Report on Sanskrit MSS. [MARcn, 



made from this record of all works which require to he noticed in detail, and 

 the descriptive accounts are then written out in full. 



Publication of Notices. — 22. At first I was under an impression that 

 separate lists of particular collections would be the best, as suggested in the 

 orders of Government ; but I soon perceived that it involved much unneces- 

 sary trouble and expense, and caused the repetition of the same names a 

 great number of times. So it had to be given up. The nominal list re- 

 ferred to in the last preceding para, will, I think, when completed and pub- 

 lished, supply the information fully and in a handy form. 



In the meantime my attention has been devoted to detailed notices of 

 all works not included in the catalogue of the Asiatic Society's collection. 

 Of these " Notices" two volumes and one part have already been published, 

 comprising altogether 861 pages royal octavo, and descriptive accounts of 

 1140 separate codices. For the sake of carrying on the printing while my 

 researches are in progress, no systematic arrangement is attempted, and 

 manuscripts are noticed as they turn up. The inconvenience arising from 

 this course is, however, obviated by annexing to each volume a classified 

 table, and a full alphabetical Index. 



Contents of the Notices. — 23. The number of Vedie works or portions 

 of the Vedas in the published Notices is limited, and all of them have been 

 seen or obtained at Benares, not a single codex having been seen in the 

 possession of a Pandit of Bengal in the several Toles which have been visited. 

 This total absence of the most important and most revered of Sanskrit 

 works in the libraries of those who have been the principal custodians of 

 Sanskrit literature is a remarkable fact, and it is usually accounted for by 

 the Pandits by reference to a verse of the Yogini Tcmtra which says, " who- 

 ever keeps MSS. of the Vedas in his home, soon finds his abode struck by 

 lightning." The verse is obviously due to the sectarian zeal of the Tantra 

 which would admit of no rival in its neighbourhood, but the true cause, I 

 believe, is that Bengal has never been the seat of a Vedic school, and con- 

 sequently it has never been taught here, nor MSS. prepared or preserved. 

 It is said that when on the overthrow of the Pala rajas, A'disura, the Hindu 

 sovereign of Bengal, wanted to celebrate a great Vedic sacrifice, he could 

 find no native Brahman competent to officiate at it, and had to indent for 

 five learned priests from Kanauj. These priests settled in the country, and 

 gave new life to Hinduism everywhere ; and many of their descendants have 

 been noted as great scholars and distinguished authors ; but they do not 

 seem to have cultivated the Vedas, and there is not a single treatise on the 

 Vedas or Vedic learning among their writings. Their special forte has been 

 philosophy, and works on the subject are abundant everywhere. TheNyaya 

 schools of Tirhut and Nuddia have enjoyed deserved celebrity all over India, 

 and every Pandit of any note has some work or other on the subject, not 



