MAJOR MACDONALD. 



57 



knows his real humility, while he appears only to deride 

 others ! 



It is remarkable that throughout the whole of Vemana's 

 published writings, there is but one allusion to the Mahome- 

 dans. This occurs in the verse beginning 



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Though a Turk go to the sacred hill of Tripety, he does not 

 become a palmer. 



The Hindoos boast that the sacred soil of Tripety has never 

 been profaned by the foot of a Mussulman or a Christian, 

 and although this may not be strictly true, it is not likely 

 that such visits as those noticed in the verse above quoted 

 would have been ventured on before the period of the Ma- 

 homedan Conquest. The first invasion of that portion of the 

 Carnatic, in which Tripety is situated, took place in 1310, 

 but the country was not actually occupied until the beginning 

 of the 18th century. So far therefore as any inference can 

 be drawn from this allusion, it seems probable that the 

 Abbe Dubois is right in assigning a comparatively modern 

 date to Vemana. 



Nearly all Vemana's verses have one uniform chorus and 

 are written in the Ataveladi metres, but other metres such 

 as the Tetagiti and the Kunda (corresponding with the 

 Ariya Gati of Sanscrit prosody) occasionally occur. 



Dr. Caldwell in his Comparative Dravidian Grammar 

 observes that in Telugu the principal grammatical writers 

 and the most celebrated poets have been Bramins, and that 

 there is only one work of note which was not composed by 

 a member of the sacred tribe. The work alluded to is no 

 doubt the Vasu Charitra, by Kamarauz, surnamed Bhattu- 

 murti, and though it may be admitted that in a certain 

 sense such writers as Vemana are not authors of note, few 



