Translation of the 



[No. 



supposed to be, barren field."—" Mr. (Professor) Wilson says 

 (Des. Cat. vol. 1, p. 198,) ^ According to this work the 

 series of Ko7iga, or Chera, princes amounted to twenty-six, 

 from Vira-raya-chacraverti to Raja-malla-deva ; in the time 

 of whose descendants the kingdom was subdued by the 

 Chola-raja,'' What descendants, or how many of them in- 

 tervened between Raja-malla-deva, and the Chola conquest, 

 seems needful to be ascertained, before attempting the ascend- 

 ing series up to Vira-raya^ 



Before the publication of that volume (in 1835) the mistake, 

 which appeared in a few of the earlier printed sheets of sup- 

 posing the Mackenzie Manuscripts to be at Calcutta, was re- 

 moved ; and access to those Manuscripts, then deposited at 

 the College, was given to me. One consequence was my trans- 

 lating the Manuscript in question, during a period of some 

 leisure in 1836 ; and when (towards the close of 1837) the 

 analysis of the collection was begun, I did my best from 

 the two imperfect copies to make one complete, by collation ; 

 but failed of success ; and subsequent care to recover, if possi- 

 ble, the lost leaves, from amongst other fragments in the col- 

 lection, also failed. The notice above adverted to, was pen- 

 ned from a general recollection of the translation, but recently 

 made. I had no intention to be particular ; and no time to 

 be critically nice. A great work was to be done ; and a very 

 limited time, within which it must be done, had been assigned. 

 Besides in a mere abstract, anything like nicety was excluded. 

 My own notion of exactitude is, a printing of the document on 

 the one page, with a closely literal version on the other page, 

 as above indicated ; and as at various times, was largely dwelt 

 on : particularly in Madras Journal of Literature and Science, 

 vol. 6, page 156. 



In consequence of my removal, in 1839, to the Mission Pre- 

 mises at Vepery, and again in 1 842, and back to my custom- 

 ary residence in 1840 and 1842, occasioned by the imhealthi- 

 ness of the Mission Premises, my books and papers became 

 subject to considerable disorder : the lighter pamphlets, and 

 papers in particular. Hence my rough version of the Cmgu- 



