Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/177

Rh alive. The following explanation of the circumstances was given to me.

The Ranee Bhawani is stated to have been the founder of all the endowments referred to, and the mode that she adopted of giving effect to her wishes was to arrange with the collector of the district for a fixed increase of the annual assessment to which her estates were liable, the increase being equal to the various endowments which she established, and which were to be paid in perpetuity through the collector. Her estates, it is represented, thus became burdened with a permanent increase of annual assessment to Government, which increase continues to be levied from the successive holders of the estates to whom they have descended or by whom they have been purchased, while the endowments have been discontinued to the heirs and representatives of those on whom they were originally bestowed. The following are four cases of this description particularly described:—

1.—At Bejpara Amhatti, Gadadhara Siddhanta received in the above-mentioned manner 120 Rupees per annum which was continued to his eldest son; but on his death the payment was discontinued by the collector, as is alleged, about twelve years ago, although there are members of the family fully competent to fulfil the purposes of the endowment.

2.—At the same place there is a similar case in the family of Kasikanta Nyaya Punchanana, who received 120 Rupees per annum, which, after his death, was continued to his two sons, but on the death of one of them it was withdrawn from the other.

3.—At Boria, in the thana of Chaugaon a sum of 60 Rupees per annum was paid in the same way to Rudrakanta Bhattacharya and discontinued since his death.

4.—The fourth case is that which is imperfectly described in the Report of 1st July 1835, on the state of education in Bengal, p. 114. The details there given were taken from a Memoir prepared at the India House on education in this country, and published by order of the House of Commons in 1832. The facts appear to be that Ranee Bhawani established the endowment of 90 Rupees per annum in favor originally of Sripati Vidyalankara, after whose death it continued to be paid to his eldest son Chandra Sekhar Tarkavagisa, and after his death to the three younger sons Kasiswara Vachaspati, Govindarama Siddhanta, and Hararama Bhattacharya. Since their death the payment of the endowment has been discontinued to the family, although two members of it, one a son of Kasiswara Vachaspati, and the other a son of Govindarama Siddhanta, have each a school of learning at Tajpur in the thana of Chaugaon. This case is the more worthy of notice because, as appears from the statement prepared at the India House, the Government in 1813, on the recommendation of the Revenue Board, sanctioned the payment in perpetuity, on