Indian Antiquary Vol 56

Author(s): Richard Carnac Temple, Charles E A W Oldham, Krishnaswami Aiyangar
Publisher: Swati Publications

Page 14

THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY
[ JANUARY, 1927
the College Board solicited authority for retaining the Rev. Mr. W. Taylor's services for the formation of a Catalogue Raisonnée of the Oriental Manuscripts in the College Library.57 According to C. P. Brown 68, who had a hand in accumulating the Mackenzie MSS. in the Madras College Library, the method adopted by Taylor was unsatisfactory, as he was acquainted with colloquial Tamil alone and unskilled in chronology, and did not use the right method and phraseology in explaining the works. In 1854 the Rev. M. Winslow, American Missionary in Madras, solicited Government patronage to his prospectus of A Comprehensive Tamil and English Dictionary of High and Low Tamil69. This work superseded all earlier works and helped in proving that "in its poetic form, the Tamil is more polished and exact than the Greek, and in both dialects with its borrowed treasures more copious than the Latin."60 About the same date Caldwell's Dravidian Affinities was published, Government rendering him also some help@1. Thus before the Company's rule ended, a brighter day had dawned for Tamil studies with the appearance of Winslow and Caldwell.
In Telugu studies, the labours of Mr. J. C. Morris supplemented by his brother, Mr. H. Morris, and of Mr. C. P. Brown stand out very prominently. From & perusal of the Index volumes to the Proceedings of the Madras Government in the Public Department we are furnished with abundant testimony as to the educative value and popularity of Morris's Telugu Selections, Brown's Dictionary, and Campbell's Telugu Grammar. Brown rates his Grammar as being the most difficult and intricate of all his works, with the possible exception of his Cyclic Tables of Hindu and Muhammadan Chronology. Brown's works in Telugu are too numerous and varied for detailed notice here; but one may recall the Nistara Ratnakaram (Ocean of Salvation), which he revised from an unknown author, being a summary of the Christian religion in Telugu metre. Brown himself thus speaks of the state of Telugu learning at the time when he commenced his labours "When I began these tasks, Telugu literature was dying out; the flame was just glimmering in the socket. The Madras College, founded in 1813, preserved a little spark. ..."02 An outburst of native authorship was the result, which was to be followed in due course by critical studies. As early as 1839, one B. Subbarayulu published Carpenter's English Synonyms with Telugu . Explanations. Strangely enough, Morris' Telugu Selections was translated into Malayalam by A. J. Arbuthnot, who submitted it for support by Government 63. Some years before this date appeared Captain Whistler's Translation into Telugu of the Arabian Nights, and almanacs both in Tamil and Telugu published by the College Board. Malayalam and Kannada (Canarese) came in also for proportionate attention and encouragement by the College Board and by Government. It was the Rev. Mr. Whish who was first encouraged by the College Board in the compilation of a Malayalam Dictionary. A Consultation of 183464 supplied to England information regarding the works in the vernacular languages prepared by the late Mr. C. M. Whish. In 1847 Government gave financial assistance to the Rev. J. Reeks' proposed Grammar of the Malayalam language66. Mr. F. W. Ellis first pointed out the abundance in Malayalam of Sanskrit derivatives66 "in & proportion exceeding half, equal perhaps to three-fifths of the-whole under the two heads common to all dialects of South India, tat-samam, pure
67 Pub. Cons., 15th February 1853. 68 P. xviii of The Literary Life of O. P. Brown quoted above.
60 Compiled with the assistance of native scholars; and from M8. materials of the Rev. J. Knight of Jaffna (died 1838) assisted by the Rev. P. Percival (Madras, 1862).
80 Ibid., p. vii of Preface. 61 Pub. Cons., 13th Jany. 1854. 69 P. xxii of The Literary Tife of C. P. Brown quoted above. 63 Proceedings in the Public Dept., 27th Nov. 1849.
64 Dated 8th July and answering a communication from the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.
65 Proceedings in the Pub. Dept., 15th July. 46 Wilson's Glossary of Judicial and Rsusnue Terms, etc., (London, 1855), p. xxiii (Preface).