1895.] 
E. A. Gait— Historical Research in Assam. 
107 
search, and in any case, those three would in themselves furnish a 
sufficient reason for employing some one to learn the language and 
furnish us with an account of what they contain. 
Next to the historical buranjis , the puthis of which it would, in my 
opinion, be most desirable to obtain translations are those of a religious 
nature, as from these we should, for the first time, be able to gather 
some idea of the form of Hinduism which was carried from India to 
the Shan states before the rise of Buddhism, or, at any rate, of the 
extent to which the earlier Hinduism entered into the religion pre¬ 
viously professed by the Shans. Out of the 28 puthis in Babu Phani- 
dhar’s list, I think that at least 14 should be translated. The copying 
of a small puthi is estimated to take 14 days, and that of a large one 
28 days. On an average, it may be assumed that 20 days would be 
required for copying each puthi. This would be done by the deodliais 
themselves, and the remuneration they would require would be about 
Rs. 10 per mensem. Consequently, it would cost us about Rs. 100 to 
obtain copies of 14 puthis. Assuming that it took the person appointed 
to supervise the work four months to learn the Ahom language, we 
should have to pay his teacher Rs. 4x10= Rs 40. Having learnt the 
language, he would have to go through each of the puthis with the 
deodhai who copied it, and having got its meaning, lie would have 
to translate it. Assuming that this took about the same time as the 
copying, the translator would be engaged on the work for 280 days, 
and he would have deodliais working with him for the same length of 
time. Consequently, the total expenditure on the remuneration of the 
deodhais would be Rs. 240, and to this would have to be added the pay 
of the translator for 120 days while learning the language and 280 days 
while translating, or about 14 months in all. I can obtain the services 
for this purpose of an intelligent young Assamese, who has passed the 
F. A. Examination, for Rs. 30 per mensem , or Rs. 420 for the whole 
period of 14 months. He would also have to be given a small contin¬ 
gent grant for paper, &c. If more buranjis come to light, or if it 
is decided to deal with all known Ahom puthis , he would be required 
for a longer period; in the above calculation, I am only estimating for 
the cost of copying and translating the more important puthis in Babu 
Phanidhar’s list. For this purpose, I think that a grant of Rs. 400 
this year and Rs. 500 next year would suffice to cover all the charges 
which are likely to be incurred. 
19. If the above proposals are sanctioned, it may perhaps be 
thought impracticable to sanction a separate establishment for searching 
for manuscripts until the translation of ARovaputhis has been brought to a 
conclusion, but even if no special staff is employed, I think we might 
