1836.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 829 



Mr. John Curnin was proposed by the Secretary, seconded by Mr. 

 Bagshaw. 



Captain F. Jenkins, proposed by the Secretary, seconded by Sir E. 

 Ryan. 



Mr. George Hill, proposed by Dr. Pearson, seconded by the Secre- 

 tary. 



Mr. Richari> Walker, proposed by Mr. Bell, seconded by the Pre- 

 sident. 



Balms R v'mna'th Tagore and Prasannakuma'r Tagore, proposed 

 by Balm Rusomoy Dutt, seconded by the Secretary. 



Mr. P. A. Lair was proposed a corresponding member by Mr. James 

 Prinsep ; the nomination was referred to the Committee of Papers. 



The meeting then proceeded to the annual election of office-bearers, 

 when the following gentlemen were elected. 



Vice- Presidents. 



Sir John P. Grant, Sir B. H. Malkin, the Rev. Dr. Mill, W. H. 

 Macnaghten, Esq., H. T. Prinsep, Esq. 



Committee of Papers. 



J. R. Colvin, Esq., C. E. Trevelyan, Esq , Capt. Pemberton, Capt. 

 Forbes, D. Hare, Esq., J. T. Pearson, Esq., Dr. Wallich, Capt. Cun- 

 ningham, Ramcomul Sen. 



The Secretary read minutes from the Report of the Committee of pa- 

 pers on the Honorable Mr. Turnour's proposed publication of the Mahd- 

 vansi. 



Minute by Dr. Mill. 



In presenting to the world both the text and the translation of these extensive 

 historical works — and in thus rescuing them from what is in many respects worse 

 than total oblivion, the confusion and misapprehension of their real testimony 

 which a former very erroneous publication on the subject in England was 

 calculated to produce, — Mr. Turnour would have conferred a very great bene- 

 fit on the historical literature of the East, had his merits even stopped at this 

 point, and had he not further shewn by his comments, how admirably qualified 

 he is to illustrate the work he edites, and enable every reader to profit by its 

 contents. The literary benefit is very far from being confined to the single 

 subject of Ceylon : it extends to the whole of India : and yields in importance 

 to nothing that has yet been produced on that most perplexed and generally 

 unproductive subject, the history of India prior to the thousandth year of our 

 era. 



How these documents bear on the general history of the country, will be very 

 evident to any one who follows the able editor in his preliminary remarks, as 

 well as in the specimen he has already given us of the first book of his series, the 

 Mahdvansi. It is enough to remark, that the peculiarly interesting connexion 

 between the history of Ceylon before the Christian era, with that of Magadha, 

 or that part of Northern India which we now call Behar, is attested by th« 



