Page:A Descriptive Catalogue of the Oriental Manuscripts.djvu/10

 INTRODUCTION

Several years have elapsed since the attention of oriental enquirers was attracted to the existence of an extensive Collection of literary materials, relating to the Antiquities of the South of India, accumulated by Col. Colin Mackenzie, the Surveyor General of India, then recently deceased. An account of that Collection is now submitted to the Public. Before proceeding however to particularise the details, it may facilitate an appreciation of their value, to advert to the circumstances under which the materials were collected, and those which have led to their present description, the different divisions under which they have been arranged, and the light which they reflect upon the Languages and Literature, and the Religious and Political Revolutions of the South of India.

A Letter addressed by Col. Mackenzie to Sir Alexander Johnston in 1817, conveys an authentic view of the motives which led him to form the Collection, and the means which enabled him him to prosecute his researches with success. His own words will best be employed to explain as much as is neces-