183S.] 



Report on the Mackenzie Manuscripts. 



57 



Observation.— Something like a confused idea of the legend seems 

 to have been possessed by the Greeks and Romans; but what is more 

 remarkable is, that in the fragments of Sanconiathon the same legend, 

 with the name of Ila, is given as a part of Phoenician history. This 

 subject merits full investigation. The present is not the proper place 

 to follow out the clue; but whenever successfully pursued, a part of 

 the veil that yet hangs over very early Hindu history will be drawn 

 aside. 



The MS, is briefly entered in Des. Cat.. vol. 1, p. 333, art. xnv. 



4. Zupali Vencatadri Fansavali, or the genealogy of the family of 

 Vencaiadri. No. 136— Countermark 353. 



This title induced an examination of the contents ; but though the 

 document contains a brief statement of the ancestry of the writer's pa- 

 tron Vencaiadri, a small zemindar, yet that is merely introductory, and 

 by way of panegyric. The proper title of the work is Chandrica. 

 Parinaya ; and it is merely a poetical account of the marriage of 

 Chandrica, quite irrelevant to the object of the present researches. 

 The writer Bala Sarasvati, was a poet of eminence ; and mentions his 

 intention partly to be to give some exemplifications of recondite refine- 

 ments in Telugu prosody, and metre. As such, the book would be very- 

 acceptable to ^nafAm-poets. It is however not complete; containing 

 only the first chapter, and two leaves of the second. 



It is correctly entered in the Des. Cat. vol. 1, p. 322, article xv., 

 under the proper title of " Chandrika ParinayaJ* 



5. Balayana Raya Charitra, or an account of king Balayana, No. 

 56. — Countermark 492. 



The title Charitra, meaning properly an authentic narrative, induc- 

 ed me to look at this document ; but the word may also denote a mere 

 work of fiction ; which is the character of this manuscripts It is a 

 <S'azi;a poem, of the e/aw^«ma class, claiming no abstract, it is com- 

 plete and in very good order. 



It is entered in Des. Cat. vol. I, p. 319, article vr. 



6. Cdlama-raju Charitra, oi: iiiQ story 0^ king Cdlatna, No. 58.— 

 Countermark 315. 



