1836.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 511 



Proposition of Cavelly Venkata Lachmi'a, Pandit, to the Madras Govern- 

 ment. 



To His Excellency Lieutenant-General the Right Honorable Sir Frederick 

 Adam, K. C. B m Governor in Council, &c. &c. &c. 



Fort St. George. 

 Right Honorable Sir, 



Par. 1. — I have the honor to submit respectfully, the accompanying copy of a 

 letter addressed to your Excellency from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great 

 Britain and Ireland, for the consideration of your Excellency in Council, of 

 which Society I am a corresponding Member, whereby it appears that that 

 Society is very desirous to receive every literary information in this part of the 

 world, with a view to complete the late Colonel Mackenzie's collection. I 

 most submissively solicit, that your Excellency in Council will be pleased to 

 sanction every support from the Government regarding those researches, parti- 

 cularly to authorize me to open a general correspondence with the gentlemen of 

 literary endowments, under this Presidency, in the revenue, judicial and 

 military branches of the service, to enable me to procure every information on 

 the subject of the History, Antiquities, &c. of India. 



2. — I beg leave to submit the enclosed copy of an abstract, comprising a brief 

 idea of the nature of the work in which I am engaged. I leave it to your Excel- 

 lency in Council to judge what may be estimated to be the expense and esta- 

 blishment required to bring it to a completion. It would, however, be presump- 

 tive in me, at the present stage of affairs, to suggest any specific amount. But 

 the work consists of twenty-one different ancient alphabets and fourteen lan- 

 guages, ancient and modern, of various parts of the Peninsula ; consequently, I 

 would observe, that I will have occasion to employ in every zillah, on the smal- 

 lest scale, two intelligent scholars, one versed in Sanscrit and the other must be 

 proficient in oriental literature, whose office it will be to collect ancient inscrip- 

 tions from religious structures and holy temples, which will prove the best 

 guide to ascertain the accuracy of the chronology and history of the country. 

 If the collectors undertake a part of this laborious task, I should imagine that 

 it will prove less expensive : yet I am led to fear greatly, that they can hardly 

 afford to give any attention to it, with the exception of some few of the most 

 literary characters. For the materials thus collected, I would require an esta- 

 blishment of pandits, translators, &c. to arrange and bring down such infor- 

 mation that may be collected and approved of. 



3. — It never can be expected that the postage of the vast correspondence con- 

 nected with this arduous task, which are necessarily required by the above 

 Society, can be carried on at my own expense ; I therefore most respectfully beg 

 the favor of your Excellency in Council to pass all communications to and from 

 me, as a corresponding member of the Royal Asiatic Society, free of postage, in 

 the same manner as was passed in the late Colonel Mackenzie's time, relative 

 to which the enclosed is a copy of a letter from the Post Master General of this 

 Presidency, dated 8th March, 1809, for the information of your Excellency in 

 Council, and in the same manner as the Madras Literary Society is still enjoying 

 this privilege without any interruption, as stated to the President of the Madras 

 Hindu Literary Society, in your Chief Secretary's letter under date 22nd February, 

 1834, which is about to be discontinued. But I would faithfully promise that no 

 abuse or advantage shall be taken of the confidence that may be reposed in me on 

 the subject. 



I have the honor to be, Right Honorable Sir, 



Your Excellency's most obedient humble servant, 



(Signed) Cavelly Venkata Lachmi/a, 

 Corresponding Member of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain 



and Ireland. 



(A true Copy), 

 Madras, \6th June, 1835. Chief Secretary. 



