Page:The Indian Antiquary Vol 2.djvu/112

98 THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY. [March, 1873. VI. Now forth let swollen streamlets burst, And o’er the withered meadows flow : Let plants their quickening influence know, And pining cattle quench their thirst. VII. Thy wondrous might, 0 god, declare ; With verdure bright the earth adorn, Clothe far and wide the fields with corn, And food for all the world prepare. VIII. But 0, we pray, Parjanya kind, Since now our harvests, drenched with rain, Invoke the Solar powers in vain, Thy waterskins no more unbind.0 jEdinburgh, Sept. 13, 1872. J. Muir. EARLY PRINTING IN INDIA. The art of printing was introduced into India by the Goa Jesuits about the middle of the sixteenth century, but they printed only in the Roman char¬ acter at first. Father Estevad (i.e., Stephens, an Englishman), about 1600, speaks of the Roman character as exclusively used for writing Konkani} and the system of transcription which he used in his Konkani Grammar (Arte de lingod Canarin) and Purann is really worthy of admiration. It is based on the Portuguese pronunciation of the alphabet, but is accurate and complete, and has been used by the numerous Konkani Roman Catholics of the west coast of India up to the present time. In the seventeenth century the Jesuits appear to have had two presses at Goa ; in their College of St. Paul at Goa, and in their house at Rachol. Few specimens of their work have been preserved, but there is ample evidence that they printed a consider¬ able number of books, and some of large size. About the end of the seventeenth century, it became the practice at Goa to advance natives to high office in the Church, and from that time ruin and degradation began, and the labours of the early Jesuits disap¬ peared. Literature was entirely neglected, and the productions of the early presses were probably used as waste-paper by the monks, or left to certain destruction by remaining unused and uncared for on their bookshelves. There is, however, in the Cochin territory a place quite as famous as Goa in the history of printing in India. Often mentioned by travellers in the seventeenth and eighteenth cen¬ turies, Ambalacdtta (i.e., Ambalakkddu, or “Church- wood”) is not to be found on the maps, and recent inquirers have supposed that the site is forgotten, and that inquiry was useless. The late Major Carr appears to have arrived at this conclusion after visiting Goa ♦ This verse, which has been mainly suggested by the (in Scotland) disastrous rains of the present season, is justi¬ fied by a brief reference in a verse of one of the hymns (v. 83, 10). in order to get information about it. The place* however, still remains, but as a small village with a scanty population of schismatic Nestorians ; it is inland from Cranganore, and a few miles to the north of Angamali. The Jesuits appear to have built here a seminary and church dedicated to St. Thomas soon after 1550, and in consequence of the results of the Synod of Udayompura, presided over by Alexius Menezes, Archbishop of Goa, in 1599, it became a place of great importance to the mission. Sanskrit, Tamil, Malayalam, and Syriac were studied by the Portuguese Jesuits residing there with great success,f and several important works were printed, of which, however, we have only the names left us as recorded by F. de Souza and others, and still later by Fr. Paulinus. The'last tells us that : “ Anno 1679 in oppido Ambalacdtta in lignum incisi alii characteres Tamulici per Igna- tium Aichamoni indigenain Malabarensem, iisque in lucem prodiit opus inscriptum : Vocabulario Tamulico com a significaqao Portugueza composto pello P. Antem de Proenga da Comp.de Jesu, Miss, de Afadure.” The first Malabar-Tamil (? Malay¬ sia ra) types had been cut by a lay brother of the Jesuits, Joannes Gonsalves, at Cochin, in 1577. Ambalacdtta was destroyed by order of Tipu, when his army invaded Cochin and Travancore ; a true barbarian and savage, he spared neither Christians nor Hindus, and to him attaches the infamy of destroying most of the ancient Sanskrit MSS. which time had spared in S. India. Br&hmans have yet stories current, how in those times their ancestors had to flee to the forests with a few of their most precious books and possessions, leaving the remain¬ der to the flames. A. B.—in Triibner's Record, Oct. 31. DEFINITION OF FO OR BUDDHA. “ What is Fo ?” asked an Indian king of a dis¬ ciple of a saint of Hindustan named Tamo. This disciple, whose name was Poloti, replied—“ Fo is nothing else than the perfect knowledge of nature —intelligent nature.”—“ Where is this nature to be found ?” rejoined the king. “ In the knowledge of Fo,” answered the disciple ; “ that is, in the understanding which comprehends intelligent na¬ ture.” The king reiterated the question—“Where does it reside then ?” The disciple replied—“ In use and knowledge.”—“ What is this use ?” said the king, “ for I do not comprehend it.” Poloti replied—“ In that you speak, you use this nature ; but,” added he, “ you do not perceive it on account of your blindness.”—“ What,” said the king, “ does this nature reside in me ?” The disciple replied— “ If you knew how to make use of it, you would find it throughout you ; since you do not use it, you cannot discern it.”—“ But in how many places t The German Jesuit Hanxleden, who died at P&s'Ar (in S. Malabar) in 1732, possessed a comprehensive knowledge of Sanskrit literature.