1836-1 



Asiatic Society of Bengal. 



439 



telligent scholars, one versed in Sanscrit and the othermustbe proficient in orien- 

 tal literature, whose office it will be to collect ancient inscriptions from religious 

 structures and holy temples, which will prove the best guide to ascertain the accu- 

 racy of the chronology and history of the country. If the collectors undertake a 

 part of this laborious task, I should imagine that it will prove less expensive : yet 

 I am led to fear greatly, that they can hardly afford to give any attention to it, 

 with the exception of some few of the most literary characters. For the materials 

 thus collected, I would require an establishment of pandits, translators, &c. to ar- 

 range and bring down such information that may be collected and approved of. 



3. — It never can be expected that the postage of the vast correspondence con- 

 nected with this arduous task, which are necessarily required by the above Society, 

 can be carried on at my own expense ; I therefore most respectfully beg the favor 

 of your Excellency in Council to pass all communications to and from me, as a 

 corresponding member of the Royal Asiatic Society, free of postage, in the same 

 manner as was passed in the late Colonel Mackenzie's time, relative to which the 

 enclosed is a copy of a letter from the Post Master General of this Presidency, 

 dated 8th March, 3809, for the information of your Excellency in Council, and in 

 the same manner as the Madras Literary Society is still enjoying this privilege 

 without any interruption, as stated to the President of the Madras Hindu Literary 

 Society, in your Chief Secretary's letter under date 22d February, 1834, which is 

 about to be discontinued. But I would faithfully promise that no abuse or advan- 

 tage shall be taken of the confidence that may bp reposed in me on the subject. 

 I have the honor to be, Right Honorable Sir, 



Your Excellency's most obedient hui^ble servant, 



(Signed) Cavelly Venkata Lachmi'a, 

 Corresponding Member of the Royal Asiatic Society 



of Great Britain and Ireland. 



Madras, 16th June, 1835. 



Report of the Committee of Papers on Oavelly Venkata Lachmi'a's pro- 

 posed renewal of Colonel Mackenzie's investigations. 



The reference from the Madras Government, for an opinion on the merits of 

 Venkata Lachmi'a pandit's proposition, how r ever complimentary to our Society, 

 might perhaps have been addressed with better effect to the Madras Literary 

 Society, which must be far better acquainted than we can pretend to be, both with 

 the character and attainments of the individual, and with those desiderata in the 

 History of the Peninsula, which he undertakes to elucidate. 



We, however, enjoy one advantage in the possession of Mr. now Professor, 

 Wilson's Descriptive Catalogue of Col. Mackenzie's Collection, which, aided 

 by other published works on the history of the Southern Hindu States, may enable 

 us to form a tolerable opinion on the question. 



It might be supposed from the entire silence of Venkata on the subject of 

 Mr. Wilson's labours in the statement he has handed up to the Madras Govern- 

 ment of the " Progress of the Researches" in which he is engaged, that he was a 

 total stranger to the descriptive catalogue ; although the brief notice he gives of 

 each state and dynasty, appears based upon the summary contained in the intro- 

 duction to that work, both as to arrangement and detail ; and certainly it adds not 

 one iota to the information made public by Professor Wilson in 1828. 



The object of Sir Alexander Johnston, in persuading the Pandit to found 

 a native literary society at Madras was, doubtless, that through the gratuitous aid 



