24 Presidenfs Address. [Feb. 



-want of funds, it would seem very desirable that the larger sum of money annually 

 granted to the Asiatic Society of Calcutta for the publication of Sanskrit texts, should 

 in future be divided between Calcutta and Bombay. Valuable as the volumes of the 

 Bibliotheca Indica are, the scholars of Calcutta might do well to combine their forces 

 with their colleagues at Bombay, and to agree with them in a common line of action. 

 Some of the Calcutta texts are not edited as they ought to be, and since the departure 

 of Professor Cowell from Calcutta there seems a want of supervision in the manage- 

 ment of this important undertakin:^." 



It cei'tainly appears to be true that the number of texts published in the 

 Bombay series is hmited ; for, as far as I can make out, they amount only 

 to six within the last six years. And this shortcoming may be due to want 

 of funds ; but I fail to see the reason which makes it therefore " desirable 

 that the larger sum of money annually granted to the Asiatic Society of 

 Calcutta should in future be divided between Calcutta and Bombay." If we 

 look at the nature of the Bombay texts, we find that four out of the six are 

 school books, of each of which there were several editions extant (in two cases 

 even so many as 30 and 60 respectively) before the Bombay editors took 

 them up. According to the rule, which we consider ourselves bound to fol- 

 low in the disbm'sement of the money granted by the Government, texts 

 situated as these are would not be chosen by us for pubHcation at the public 

 expense, but would be left entirely to private enterprize. As long as pre- 

 cious and important oriental works remain in MS. only, and for that cause 

 are not only inaccessible to scholars generally, but are also under risk of be- 

 coming totally lost to the world, we direct our efforts at publishing these, in 

 preference to putting forward new editions of works which are already in the 

 hands of the pubhc. We do not even, generally speaking, reprint any of our 

 own Bibliotheca Indica series, the copies of which may have become exhaust- 

 ed. The remaining two texts of the Bombay series are the A])astoml)a Sutra, 

 and Paribdshendu-sehliara, text and translation, the one presenting a little 

 less than 100, the other a little more than 400 pages. I will assume on pro- 

 fessor Max Miiller's authority, and, indeed, I have no doubt, that these have 

 been exceedingly well edited. But when I remind you, on the other side, of 

 the Council's Report just read, from which it appears that we have since 1848 

 published no less than 472 fasciculi, giving portions of 86 very important 

 oriental works, and that these run to something between 1700 and 2400 pages 

 every year, I think you will be of opinion that our Bombay competitors have 

 not beaten us either in quantity or character of published material. As to the 

 concluding remark of Professor Max Miiller in the passage which I have 

 quoted, I deny altogether that the depaiiiure of Professor Cowell from Cal- 

 cutta affected for the worse the supervision in the management of the Biblio- 

 theca Indica. The principal editors, Babu Rajendralala Mitra and Mr. 

 Blochmann are mdefatigable in their attention to this important work. 

 Nearly all the editors who laboui'ed under Professor Cowell are still at their 



