1875.] Babu Rajendralal— Report an Sanscrit MSS. 75 



common elsewhere. Works on the Vedanta are also numerous. The for- 

 mer class is represented in the published Notices by 98 treatises, and the 

 latter by 67 codices. The Upanishads as bearing on the Vedanta are re- 

 presented by 92 works. The Tantras come next to Nyaya ; Bengal is par- 

 ticularly noted for them, and of them I have noticed 205 works or parts of 

 works. In my last report I have already given an account of the nature 

 and character of this class of works. Grammar, Lexicography, Rhetoric 

 and other branches of Sanskrit learning are also fairly represented in my 

 Notices. 



It should be noted, that in making my selections I have been guided 

 by a desire to exclude all works existing in the Library of the Asiatic So- 

 ciety of Bengal, a descriptive catalogue of which is in the press, and it is 

 not desirable that the same works should be twice noticed. My work: will, 

 in conjunction with the catalogue of the Calcutta Sanskrit College and that 

 of the Asiatic Society, constitute a complete record of the bulk of the Sans- 

 krit literature extant in Bengal, and as all the three works are being printed 

 at the cost of Government they may well be taken to be parts of one un- 

 dertaking. 



Facsimiles. — 24. At the suggestion of Mr. Burnell of Mangalore, I 

 have introduced in the last two fasciculi facsimiles of some of the more an- 

 cient and important MSS. noticed. When a sufficient number of these 

 illustrations have been published, they will prove of much use in deter- 

 mining the age of manuscripts from the style of their writing, and as con- 

 tributions to a knowledge of Indian Paliography. 



Oudh Catalogue. — 25. While carrying my Notices through the press, 

 I have been also engaged in editing a Catalogue of Sanskrit MSS. existing 

 in Oudh. Four fasciculi of this work have alreadjr been published. 



Purchase of MSS. — 26. MSS. are not marketable articles ; they do 

 not readily find purchasers ; the people at large look upon them as worth- 

 less ; and consequently there are no shops in Bengal for the sale of MSS., 

 while the Pandits of the province who are the principal owners of MSS., 

 look upon them as treasures of inestimable value, never to be parted with on 

 any account. I have, therefore, found the greatest difficulty in buying 

 MSS. in Bengal. The case is different at Banares. From all parts of India, 

 Pandits, at an advanced age, leaving everything behind them, except their 

 MSS., repair to that sacred place to die, and on their demise, hawkers pur- 

 chase their stocks for a trifle, and subsequently sell them to pilgrims and 

 others at a considerable profit, and my purchases have been made prin- 

 cipally from these hawkers. The total of my acquisitions on account of 

 Government comprises G62 codices, mostly entire works, some being frag- 



