CHRONOLOGY of the Research of ancient SANSKṚIT & PRĀKṚIT MSS. [12]
CHRONOLOGY of the Research of ancient SANSKṚIT & PRĀKṚIT MSS. [12]
From R. T. H. GRIFFITH, Esq., Officiating Inspector, 3rd Circle, Department of Public Instruction, North-Western Provinces, to M. KEMPSO>f, Esq., M.A. Director of Public Instruction, North-Western Provinces,—No. 119, dated Benares, the 13th March 1869.
I HAVE the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your docket No. 1759, dated 30th November last, with a copy of G. O. No. 2064A., dated 25th idem, and its enclosures, and submit herewith my proposals for carrying out the object of the Government of India therein referred to ; and if theymeet your approval, I shall be able, I think, to submit before long my quarterly list, as ordered in paragraph 5 of Mr. Howell's letter to the address of the Secretary to the Government, North-Western Provinces, No. 4351, dated 3rd November 1868, for the first quarter of 1869.
2. The Government has sanctioned an outlay of R 1,600 per annum, as noted in the margin (it is already given above), for the North-Western Provinces. I propose that this sum may be drawn annually and formed into a fund, which, if there be savings now, may meet future extra expenses when our operations are extended, commensurate to the information we collect and the experience we gain.
3. For the present, I propose to employ, with the consent of the Principal of the College, Paṇḍit Ramānāth, the Sanskrit College Librarian, as our agent for the discovery and preservation of the records of ancient Sanskrit literature. He was bred a librarian ; his father was also a librarian. He knows Sanskrit enough for the purpose ; and his acquaintance with the people, and his experience in the way of procuring rare Sanskrit manuscripts, make him peculiarly fitted for the work. I propose to pay him R 15 per mensem as an honorarium for his extra work out of College hours, and 1 ½ anna per mile when travelling by rail, and 4 annas per mile when marching by stages, with R 1 per diem for halts, as travelling expense : the whole will not exceed the sum (R 500) allowed for tour expenses. Benares being the first city in the North-Western Provinces, and the chief seat of Sanskrit learning in India, he will be able to collect much of his information, and do much of his work, at home, and by going out during the two and half months in the year, when the College is closed, to do the rest to meet the object in view.
4. If allowed, I am prepared to undertake to superintend the printing of the lists of Sanskrit manuscripts in the North-Western Provinces.
5. I shall submit, from time to time, the list of those manuscripts which I have thought worth purchasing or copying.
6. But, before closing this letter, I feel myself bound to bring to your notice a matter so closely connected with the ultimate success of the noble design of the Government of India. When talking the other day on the subject with some intelligent Hindus, to engage their zealous co-operationin the matter, their invariable remark, with reference to paragraph 8 of the above-quoted letter, was, that "Paṇḍit Rādhākṛiṣṇa wanted to have lists of books here and in Europe, to preserve them in original, or in copies, for the use of his countrymen" (quoted in whole above); but his efforts have resulted only in hurrying on the catastrophe so emphatically predicted in the end of paragraph 10 of Mr. Whitley Stokes' note, dated 6th August 1868, where he says— “To Europe we should send everything obtained in working out this scheme—original manuscripts, copies, extracts ; for in Europe alone are the true principles of criticism and philology understood and applied,and, fifty years hence, in Europe alone will any intelligent interest be felt
in Sanskrit literature. There will then, it is safe to say, be as few Sanskrit scholars in India as there are Greek scholars in Greece.” (quoted in whole above)
7. It is well known how a Hindu worships his scriptures ; and, with him, almost every book which is written in the sacred Sanskrit language is a scripture. It is well known how averse Hindus are to part with their Sanskrit books, especially when they know they are to fall into the hands of those who are sure to use them as weapons against their religion. They do not bind their books, simply in order that they may not have to lend them all at once, even to their friends or co-religionists. Some years ago, I heard, an old Paṇḍit had tied up and sealed all his books in bags, making a will that they were to be sunk in the Ganges as soon as his life was extinct ; and leaves of books have often been seen floating in the river. Mr. Whitley Stokes is aware of this, and proposes, in the end of the 8th paragraph of his Note (above-mentioned), the conferring of titles on Śāstrīs
who exhibit liberality in this respect ; but I am afraid there are very few Śāstrīs, at least in this part of the country, so enlightened. It is only poverty, and extreme poverty generally speaking, which forces them to part with their books for pecuniary considerations. It was to remove this difficulty that some intelligent Hindus of this city started a project in 1851 to store the Benares College with Sanskrit manuscripts, with a guarantee from the Government that they were never to be removed from the place. The following remarks of the late Lieutenant-Governor, Mr. Thomason, on the prospectus, are taken from a private note :—" As to the Library at Benares, I cannot conceive that such a measure would ever be thought of as Śivaprasād seems to apprehend, nor do I see how any pledge that I can give, or that any one can give, precludes the possibility of such a measure hereafter, if any Goths or Vandals were ever to think of it. However I will do or say what I can to prevent such a possible occurrence." His Honour's lamentable death put an end to the undertaking.
8. My thus prominently bringing the matter before you is simply to suggest whether it will not be advisable to ask the Government to put us in a position that we may be able to assure the Hindus that the books sought for are to be placed in the College Library for the benefit of thepublic, and to remove the apprehension that they are to be sent to the Secretariat only to be forwarded to Europe. When once the books are in the Library, there would be no difficulty in supplying copies of them for the use of scholars in Europe. By giving out that we want books to preserve them here for the benefit of the Indians, we can engage the general sympathy of the people on our side ; whereas, when it is known that they are sought after only to be removed from this country, we cannot reasonably expect them to sympathize with us, if they do not oppose ; though
the money and individual energy will work as far as it can.
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