i838.] 



Report on the Mackenzie Manuscripts. 



85 



A king named Indra-dyuma, becoming weary of royal tj-, devolved 

 his crown on his son, and retired to a desert to perform penance. 

 While so occupied, Agastya came that way; and, enquiring into his 

 circumstances, received from the ascetic no answer. In consequence 

 Agastya denounced on hira the doom of becoming an elephant. The 

 ascetic alarmed, made excuses for his ignorance, and asked when the 

 spell would be broken. The other replied, that it would be by means 

 of an alligator, the same being an imprisoned cliorister of IndrcH s 

 world; and, till then, the ascetic, metamorphosed, would be king of 

 elephants. In the course of time a batile of a tliousand years occurred, 

 between the elephant and an alligator ; ending in a dissolution of the 

 spell by which both had been bound. 



The name of Indradyuma occurs, I believe, among the early Gajapali 

 princes (or elephant lords) : there may, by consequence, be some alle- 

 gory; but not, as it seems to me, of sufficient consequence to demand 

 further notice. 



Mahratta Ba/cheer—^o. 3/. 



Account of Nala-raja. 



A small roll of paper, very much eaten awa}% so as to be irrecovera- 

 bly damaged; but not causing any loss, as there are versions enough 

 of the tale of Nala, all founded on the interesting episode concerning 

 Icnmmihz Mahabhar at a; either directly, or intermediately, through 

 the Naishadha, a Sanscrit poem on the same subject. Elegant versions 

 of the latter exist, both in Tamil and Telugu. 



E :— SANSCRIT. 



Manuscript book, No. 25— Countermark 937. 



Balbund Character. 



Thirty-two stories of Vicrama-Raja. 



This is a version of these common and popular tales (which are suf- 

 ficiently well known) in the Pracrit- of the Maharaslttira-desam, or 

 Central India. The language is prevailingly Sanscrit, yet of an ordi- 



