but that a certificate of the validity of the endowment given by Mr. Hely, the Collector, of 1801, is in existence.
Connected with the present means of subsistence enjoyed by learned teachers is a consideration of the amount of encouragement formerly given to the same class. One teacher stated that at one time he received five rupees a month from one, and four rupees a month from another, neighbouring zemindar,—both of whom had discontinued these payments for the last three years on the plea of diminished means. The pandit did not appear to doubt that the cause assigned was the real one. In another case it was stated that about ten or twelve years ago an endowment of 60 rupees a year, established by Rani Bhawani and paid through the Government, was discontinued. It was paid first to Jayarama Nyaya Panchanana, and afterwards to his nephew Chandreshwar Nyayalankara, on whose death it was withheld, as he left no heir. Those who mentioned this endowment considered that it was exclusively designed for the encouragement of learning, and that it was intended to be of permanent obligation. A similar opinion was not expressed respecting numerous other endowments stated to have been resumed about 20 or 25 years ago, and amounting to 8,000 or 10,000 rupees per annum. They were grants of the Rani Bhawani, and were enjoyed by upwards of thirty individuals, but it was distinctly admitted that they had been given only for life, and that the resumption was proper. The object of these endowments was stated to be the encouragement of learning, which was very carefully distinguished from the object of certain other endowments established by the same Rani and still enjoyed to the extent of 30,000 rupees by upwards of sixty persons, Brahmans, Vaishnavas, female devotees, Musalman faqirs, and reduced zemindars. The information I obtained respecting those resumed endowments was not of that determinate character which it would have been satisfactory to me to report, and I endeavoured to procure more precise details in the Collector’s Office but without success. I shall not be surprised if the statements made to me should be found erroneous, and I have the satisfaction of knowing that means have been taken to obtain, through the appropriate channel of resumption-officers, complete information respecting endowments for educational purposes whether resumed or unresumed, with the purpose of faithfully applying all that may be discovered to their legitimate objects.
Krishnanatha Nyaya Punchanana, the pandit already mentioned as enjoying an endowment of 60 rupees per annum paid through the Government, possesses a distinguished reputation amongst learned natives throughout Bengal. Several of his pupils are settled as teachers of learning at Nuddea; he is in official employment as the pandit attached to the Court of the Civil and Sessions Judge of Moorshedabad; and both his learning and office
