1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 43 



General A. Cunningham. 

 Professor Bapudeva S'astri. 



Also that the following gentlemen be elected corresponding Mem- 

 bers of the Society. 



Professor C. Holmboe, Christiania. 



M. F. H. Foucaux, Professor of Sanskrit, College de France, Paris. 



The Philological Secretary drew the attention of the members to 

 certain valuable Sanskrit manuscripts lately purchased for the Library. 



He said that during a recent tour in the North West, he had 

 opportunities of examining a great number of ancient MSS. be- 

 longing to pandits and others, from which he had selected 169, which 

 he thought were interesting. Among them were 57 Vedic works, 

 including either portions of the Vedas or commentaries on and exegeses 

 of the Vedic rites. Regarding Indian philosophy, there were 11 works 

 on the Vedanta, 8 on the Mimansa, and 22 on the Nyaya. There 

 were besides 2 Tantras, 3 grammars, and several on law, metre, rhe- 

 toric, astronomy, &c. Most of the works were scarce and new to the 

 Society's Library. 



They were all of some age, and many had been read by generations 

 of Pandits, which had led to their being very carefully corrected. A 

 commentary on the Taittiriya Aranyaka was nearly 300 years old, and 

 of rare accuracy. A copy of the Uhya G-ana of the Sama Veda bore 

 date the 1652 Sanvat = 1598. A. D., and was 270 years old; a 

 codex of the Panchavins'a Prapathaka of the same Veda was 343 years 

 old, being dated 1581 S. = 1525 A. D. Considering that chartce 

 bombycince or cotton paper MSS. in Europe, notwithstanding the 

 advantage of a favourable climate, were generally not more than four 

 or five centuries old, this MS. may be valued for its great age. 

 No doubt there were many Sanskrit MSS. extant older than this, 

 and mention is made in Dr. Weber's catalogue of the Berlin Library, 

 of a codex in the Chambers' collection, which was 489 years old 

 (S. 1435), but those were mostly on palm leaves, which, like the parch- 

 ment and vellum MSS. in Europe, generally last considerably longer 

 than those that are written on paper. 



The Philological Secretary read the following Note on a MS. English 

 translation of the Mahabharata belonging to the Society. 



