1839.] 



Re2)orf on the Machenxie Manuscripts. 



329 



22. Vlaga-niti,^ treatise on morals, No. 186 — Countermark 191. 



This is a very concise little book, chiefly consisting of brief prohi- 

 bitions against vices or evils ; with a few at the close declarative or 

 hortatory. It is a school-book for children : but in the higher dialect. 

 The authorship is ascribed to Uiaga-nat' ha \ who, though his name 

 signifies " lord of the world," was a man of the barber tribe. The 

 title may be rendered either " worldly rectitude", or Uhga's Treatise 

 on Morals. The latter I suppose to be the -ight rendering. 



Note.— The manusi-ript is fresh, and in good condition. It is en- 

 tered in the Des. Cat. vol. i. p. 231, art. Ix. 



23. CA?/i/« Fe^joa, No. 174— Countermark 204, 



24. Another copy, No. 175— Countermark 205. 



These are two copies of a didactically sententious and moral work, 

 used in schools, ascribed to Awai or Acva'iyar ; a sister oi Tiruvalluvar, 

 author of the Cural, Her name, like his, is merely titular : what may 

 have been the proper name of either is uncertain. This work was enti- 

 tled by the authoress Nili chol, a word on morals," or as it may be 

 rendered, " a discourse on rectitude ;" but some later writer prefixed 

 stanzas of invocation addressed to Siva, or Ganesa, using the words adi- 

 chudi, at the beginning of his panegyric, whence the book has improper- 

 ly acquired its popular title. The alphabetical order is followed, be- 

 ginning each line or sentence at first with the vowels, and then with the 

 consonants, and syllabic letters- Hence the two-fold object is subserved 

 of fixing the alphabetical order in memory, and of ingrafting, upon the 

 w^hole, useful precepts. A translation by Dr. Jolin, of Tranquebar, was 

 inserted in the Asiatic Researches. When the book is used in Christian 

 schools, the spurious prefix of praise to false deities is rejected. 



Note. — No. 1/5 is complete, and makes rather a large book, owing 

 to very little being written on each leaf. It is injured by insects. No. 

 174 in addition to the NiH-chol, in a compressed form, has prefixed the 

 Tandaliijar-satacam, a poem containing praise addressed to Siva. There 

 are 86 stanzas out of the 100, which form a complete poem of this kind ; 

 and appended are some loose leaves seemingly belonging to another bookj 

 containing portions of a Tevaram, and Manica-vasacar-padal\ both Saiva 

 works of hymnology. This copy is in good preservation. 



Both copies are entered in the Deg. CataU voL 1. p, 245. Art. Isix. 



