1838.] Report on the Mackenzie Manuscripts. 295 



so he was of the amhattan, or barber, caste, and would merit great praise 

 for his talents and acquirements, whether he may or may not have been 

 successful in his account of the origin of castes.. 



Section 4. Sri carunara purdnam, or legend of the tribes oi BraJiman- 

 accountants of villages. 



The usual invocations. The destruction of the Samunas, at Madura, 

 by the intervention of Sampantar, is adverted to ; and the king is spoken 

 of as afterwards consulting with his minister on the best mode of diffusing 

 Sanscrit literature, and the system of Hinduism taught therein, among 

 his subjects, andgenerally throughout the country. Narkiren 'i^ spoken of 

 as a cotemporary ; which is not the usual representation. He is said to 

 have obtained from Suta-rishi, a pitranam, or legend esteemed sacred, 

 taken from the Brahmanda-piiranam to account for the formation of the 

 Madura college. This is similar to the one contained in the Madura 

 puranam. Durvasa-risM appeared in the assembly at Cailasa, and 

 required of Siva^ that the doom which he had denounced on Brahma and 

 iSarasvati, to the effect that they should both be sentenced to become 

 incarnate on earth, might be accomplished. This requisition was granted ; 

 and the forty-eight letters, which fancifully are said to compose the body 

 of Sarasvati, became incarnate in different places. There is much pueri- 

 lity in the details which follow. Connected with this account, is a refer- 

 ence to Cdncki ; and the introduction of sixty-four tribes of Brahinans 

 into the Conjeveram district, as village accountants. A list of villages, 

 granted to their tribe, is given. The bearing of the whole goes to shew, 

 that the Samunas (that is Bauddhas, or Jainas) originally possessed the 

 south country ; that the sending of the famous Sampantar from Chillam- 

 hram, led to the first introduction of the Hindu-system in the Pandiyan 

 kingdom ; that the Madura College w^as established to diffuse Sanscrit 

 literature, and the Hindu-veXigioxi ; and that a large immigration of 

 Brahmans was invited : the secular portion of them receiving large en- 

 dowments, with a view to effect the extensive diffusion of the tribe 

 throughout the more southern portion of the peninsula„. 



S-EMARK. — The paper on which the document is WTitten is strong and 

 ■g^ood, the ink somewhat faded in a few places ; but the whole, as it is, 

 •will last for several years. A small portion, at the beginning, and a 

 little at the end, are of consequence ; the middle portion, taken appa- 

 rently from the Madura St'hala puranam, is little better than worthless; 

 beyond the simple fact of the formation of a college of forty-eight 



