1834.] in the work of Native Education. 511 



more real knowledge and information than I have done in the previous 

 ten years of my Indian life. 



A few days ago, the boys of the Sehore school and the joshis and 

 brahmans above mentioned, were examined by me in the presence of 

 Captain Winfield and Dr. Inglis, of this station, and Mr. MacLeod, 

 Assistant to the Agent to the Governor General at Jabbalpur. I con- 

 fidently appeal to these gentlemen to pronounce whether the acquisi- 

 tions of the students were not, considering the time devoted to the 

 study, perfectly astonishing. 



13th. It may be thought that I am here advocating too exclusive an 

 attention to scientific education and the abstract sciences. I feel as- 

 sured, however, that this will prove our shortest course also to moral 

 improvement. Till the situation of the countries spread over the face 

 of the globe is known, what credit can our histories gain ; what im- 

 pression can they make on men's minds ? They may as well relate to 

 nations existing in the moon. Till conviction of the truth of the Sid- 

 dhantic system, as to the size and shape of the earth, is felt, the popular 

 absurdities of the Puranic cosmogony will never be abandoned. I rest 

 not merely on my own opinion and experience ; I adduce that of an 

 institution founded by a society, whose labours for the improvement of 

 India have been most useful and exemplary. I allude to the Ameri- 

 can Mission's Seminary at Jaffna, in Ceylon, in the 2nd page of whose 

 3rd triennial report, published in 1833, it is stated, " that an examina- 

 tion of the Puranic system of geography and astronomy, compared 

 or rather contrasted with the Copernican system, has been attended to 

 with greater interest, and been productive of more obvious advantages, 

 than almost any other branches of study." 



The Professors of this establishment, however, do not seem to have 

 been aware of the existence of the Siddhantas ; or to have known that 

 Bha'skar A'cha'rya had already spentthe wholeforce of his science and 

 ridicule in exposing the absurdities and impossibilities of the Puranic 

 svstem. What European, gifted with the utmost tact and wisdom, 

 with the most intimate knowledge of the native character, their cus- 

 toms, beliefs and languages, and the highest flow of eloquence in the 

 use of them, can, by appeals to reason, by arguments and proofs, hope to 

 work upon an ignorant and prejudiced people any effect compared to 

 that which may be produced by a dexterous use of its blind and pre- 

 judiced veneration for authority ? 



14th. I may here quote another instance of the practical service re- 

 cently rendered to me in my official capacity, when I was officiating as 

 Political Agent at Kotah, by these Siddhantas. The officers employed 

 on the grand trigonometrical and other surveys, have always experi- 



