The following sketch of the history of the principality of Pándya, one of the earliest political divisions of southern India, was compiled several years ago, from documents contained in the manuscript collections of the late Colonel Mackenzie. It was prepared before the completion and publication of my catalogue of those collections, and it was my intention to have revised it at some future period, with the assistance of such further materials as a more thorough examination, of its authorities might have supplied. At the same time, I commenced similar epitomes of the history of the other chief states of the Peninsula, purposing in like manner to give them the benefit of future revision and comparison with additional sources of information. Time, however, passes away, and I have not had any opportunity of carrying my intentions into execution. When such an occasion may offer is still uncertain, and I have thought, therefore, that it may not be unacceptable to the Royal Asiatic Society to be put at once in possession of what I have effected, at least as far as relates to the kindom of Pándya. From my subsequent investigation of the Mackenzie Collection, I do not expect that any material accession to our knowledge of the remote condition of the Pándya kingdom will be derived from it; but, at any rate, so much as is here supplied will, in the mean time, contribute to throw some light upon a dark period of Pándya history, and may pave the way for its more complete and more successful elucidation.

The toddy is collected in vessels perfectly clean, into each of which a small quantity of the ál, or banyan-tree is put, to retard fermentation, and correct astringencies. Before the liquor begins to ferment, it is strained through a clean cloth, and boiled in a pan of brass, or other metal, until the impurities rise to the surface, when they are carefully skimmed off. When the liquor has lost its watery colour, and become a little reddish, it is poured into another pan, and boiled over a strong fire, the scum being again taken off as it accumulates. The fire is then gradually diminished, until a white scum appears on the surface, and increases to a froth. The liquor then becomes adhesive, and of a consistency to be removed from the fire, which is ascertained by allowing a little of it to cool, and by drawing it into a thread between the finger and thumb. If the thread does not break when drawn to about an inch in length, the syrup is removed from the fire, poured into another vessel, and left to cool till it is little more than lukewarm. A little crystallised jagrí, or course sugarcandy, is then mixed with it, and the whole is poured into a fresh vessel, having an aperture and stopple in the bottom, so accommodated as to allow the uncrystallised part to ooze out. Crystallisation is completed in about a week, when the stopple is removed to allow the remaining fluid to escape, and, at the end of another week, the crystallised sugar is taken and placed near a fire in a góní, or sack. The expense of manufacture is about one penny and one-eighth per pound, exclusive of the cost of vessels.

[It will be of use to the future historian of British India, to know the precise periods at which the British government granted to the natives of the Island of Ceylon, and of the different parts of India, those rights which are alike calculated to elevate both their moral and their political character; and, also, to be enabled to refer to the opinions which were entertained at the time upon the subject, by the people of the country. One of the most important of these rights was that of sitting upon juries, and of being tried by juries of their own countrymen. It is, therefore, thought advisable to record the period, and to give some account of the circumstances under which the British government granted this right to the natives of the Island of Ceylon, and to the natives of the different parts of India; and, also, to give a copy of a paper written to Mr. GræMe, the late Governor of Madras, by Rám Ráz, who was native Chief Judge of the Mysore country, and one of the most enlightened of the Hindú inhabitants of the peninsula of India.

1. In adoration of the Varaha Avatar.

2. May Vishnu, who in the shape of a boar upheld this world, preserve you!

Jagadeka Malla Rájá, descended from the Chámushya family, was a renowned and celebrated king.

He is deservedly commemorated by the whole earth, the asylum of the world. He was the first of the rájáas, named Vishnu Vardhana Vijayáditya, &c.

Though the Chinese never instituted Olympic games, at which their orators, poets, and historians, might challenge competitors and receive the applause of the nation — though they never knew that liberty, which, while disenthralling the human, mind, extends the sphere of thought and research,—they only want orators, in order to equal the most celebrated nation of the west, not in classical productions, but in prolific and elaborate volumes.

A thinly peopled country can only carry on an advantageous commerce under the following circumstances. It must be an emporium to which the commodities of various nations are sent, not for its consumption, but to be shipped to other ports; or it must yield produce which is denied, or scantily allowed) by nature to other regions, and which can be raised and manufactured by the industry of a few.

The several ceremonies and external observances of religion practised by the different castes of Tamils or Hindús, having been made the subject of a former Essay, my present intention is to particularise those which are peculiar to the Moors, as far as they have come within the reach of my observation; and also to note the striking similarity they bear to the ceremonies of the Jews. I shall first, however, offer a few preliminary remarks on their origin, and on the etymology of the various epithets by which they are commonly designated and distinguished among other tribes of natives.

In fulfilment of the expectation promulgated in the Fourth Number of our Quarterly Journal, I do myself the honour to submit to the Society the conclusion of my notices of Land Tenures in Dukhun, embracing the holding of that important functionary, the Pateel (usually called Potail), or headman of towns and villages. This office, together with the village accountants, are, no doubt, co-eval with those of the Deshmook and Deshpandeh, already described.

The accompanying plate is a representation of the cast of an ancient seal, in the possession of the late Sir Charles Wilkins, the circumstances of the discovery of which will be best explained by the following letter: —

“The impression of a Hindú seal, which Captain Colebrooke had the honour of laying before Mr. Wilkins to be deciphered, was found by him at Asseer-ghur, a fortress belonging to Dowlut-Rao Scindia, eleven miles and three-quarters north, 9° east of Burhanpoor; in latit. 21° 27′ north, and forty-eight miles east of the meridian of Aurungabad.

Having found in the cabinet of the Society several of the coins which have lately been the subject of so much interesting and intelligent research in India, I have selected the accompanying for publication in the Society's Journal; for, although of themselves, and in my hands, they may not add much that is of importance to our knowledge of their origin, yet, as they are in a tolerably perfect condition, they may contribute, by a comparison with others of the same class instituted by the talented individuals who are engaged in the inquiry, to facilitate the deciphering of the legends which they offer, to determine their affinities, and to ascertain their history.

Shortly after the paper which the Royal Asiatic Society has thought worthy of a place in the present Number of the Journal, the Historical Sketch of the Kingdom of Pandya, was printed, I procured a copy of a valuable work recently transmitted to England from Madras, “Oriental Historical Manuscripts in the Tamil Language; translated, with Annotations, by William Taylor, Missionary.” The most important of the manuscripts, now first published by Mr. Taylor, relate to the subject of my Sketch, and constitute materials highly essential to the elucidation of Pandyan history. The chief of them, the “Madura Sthala Purana,” is clearly the same as one of my authorities, the “Madura Purana;” and it seems likely that the “Pandion Chronicle,” and the “History of the Karnata Governors of Madura,” which are also amongst Mr. Taylor's translations, may be identifiable with documents in the “Mackenzie Collection,” of which I have made use.

In order to know the hourly alternations of heat, during the hottest part of the year, in a tent in the Mufassil, or Upper Country, of the Bengal Presidency, I kept a register in the months of June and July; and the accompanying is the result, shewing the hourly differences; likewise the average heat during the month, which was less than 88°, or not a higher temperature than that of a bungalow, or brick habitation, at Cawnpore at that season. However, the changes are more sudden and oppressive in a tent than they are in a house, on account of the thinness of its walls.