1838.] 



Report on the Mackenzie Manuscripts. 



41 



point once established, that the Hindus are not the aboriginal native 

 inhabitants of the peninsula, does not seem to me of trifling magni- 

 tude ; and this point, I expect, will be fully proved in the process of 

 the present investigation.* 



C— MALAYALAM. 



Manuscript book No. 3.— Countermark 896. 



Section 5. — Kerala Ulpatti. An account of the Kerala, or Malay- 

 alam, country. 



This manuscript is stated to be copied from one then in the posses- 

 sion of Dr. Ley den : the following is a brief abstract of the contents. 



Invocation.— The incarnation of Parasu-rdma and his destruc- 

 tion of the Cshetriyas. He formed the Kerala-desam, which being in- 

 fested with serpents, he introduced the Arya Brahmans, and located 

 them in sixty-four villages. Minor details of internal arrangements. 

 Parasu-rdma procured from Indra the grant statedly of six months 

 rain in the year. Other details concerning the classes of BrahmanSf 

 and their offices. The Brahmans at first conducted the government on 

 the principles of a republic ; but, not agreeing among themselves, and 

 disputes about property arising, Parasu-rdma determined that it would 

 be better for the country to be governed by a king ; and one was 

 selected born of a Brahman father, by a Cshetriya mother; thus com- 

 bining Brahmanical and kingly descent. He was first settled in the 

 Kerala division, whence arose the name of Kerala-desam ; but the 

 entire Malayalam country was originally divided into four districts — 

 Tuluva, Mushica, Keralam, Cuva, the latter on the extreme south. 

 Details of the villages. At a late period in the Cali-yuga the Baudd^has 

 came to Kerala-desa, and the king Cheruman Perumal learnt from 

 them their mode of religious credence. Being favorably inclined to 

 them, and having adopted their system, he intimated to the Brahmans 



* A note, by tho Prestdknt of the Committee of Papees, on this portion of Mr. 

 Taylor's Report, is too curious to allow of my omittiu" it :— " I am quite certain that 

 this is an account of the wild people on the Pulicat Lake in the Zemiudarr of Sri hari 

 cotta, whom I saw many shears ago caught like monkeys by the peons of tlie Collector. 

 The women could not count more than 4 or 5 and said (with their infants in their anns) 

 that they (the mothers), were only 3 or 4 months or yeass old! They had no notion of 

 time, still less of. religion — I have no doubt they are similar to the Bheels and Gonds ; 

 but they are certainly not, like the Gonds, cannibals. "—A. D. C. 



For tlie information of readers at a distance, unacquainted with the localities hereabouts, 

 it may be stated that Pulicat is only 23 miles from AIadras, the Capital uf S. India! 

 What bewildering reflections regarding the human race does this strange fact call up ! 

 And how surprizing are the circumstances of our isolation among the tribes of India, one 

 of them, at the very threshold of the long established seat of our power, and within sight 

 of the manifestations of our civilization, so little elevated above the brute creation!— 

 Editor, 



