INTRODUCTION.

The language of which a Grammar is now offered to the Public is commonly, but improperly, termed by Europeans the Gentoo. It is the Andhra of Sanscrit authors, and, in the country where it is spoken, is known by the name of the Trilinga, Telinga, Teloogoo, or Tenoogoo.

This language is the vernacular dialect of the Hindoos, inhabiting that part of the Indian Peninsula, which, extending from the Dutch settlement of Pulicat on the Coast of Coromandel, inland to the vicinity of Bangalore, stretches northwards, along the coast as far as Chicacole, and in the interior to the sources of the Tapti; bounded on the east by the Bay of Bangal, and on the west by an irregular line, passing through the western districts belonging to the Soubahdar of the Deccan, and cutting off the most eastern provinces of the new state of Mysore-a tract including the five Northern Circars of Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Rajahmundry, Masulipatam, and Guntoor; the greater portson of the Nizam's extensive territories; the districts of Cuddapah and Bellari ceded by him to the British; the eastern provinces of Mysore; and the northern portion of the Carnatick nor is this language unknown in the more Southern parts of India, for the descendants of those Teloogoo families which were deputed by the Kings of Vidianagara to controul their southern conquests, or which occasionally emigrated from Telingana to avoid famine or oppression, are scattered all over the Dravida and Carnataca provinces; and ever retaining the language of their forefathers, have diffused a knowledge of it throughout the Peninsula. †

+ Among numerous authorities which may be quoted in support of the concluding part of this statement, I subjoin the following passages from the Travels of Dr. Francis Buchanan, a work containing much statistical information, regarding the provinces in the interior of the Peninsula "Every where in Karnata the palanquin-bearers are of Telinga descent, and in their own families "speak the language of their original country"—"The Woddas or Woddaru are a tribe of Te. ❝linga origin, and in their families retain that language; although they are scattered all over

A tradition current in Telingana, and noticed by many of it's best native* Authors, states the original name of this language, as well as that of the country in which it is spoken, to have been Tri-lingum, or in pure Teloogoo Modaga-lingum; namely the language or country of the three lingums: a name derived from the three lingums, or mystic symbols of the divinity, in the form of which Shiva, the destructive and re-producing power in the Indian Trinity, is reported to have descended upon the mountains of Shri Shuelum or Purvatum, Caleswarum, and Bheemeswarum or Dracharamum, where he is supposed still to hold his awful abode, and is worshipped under the respective names of Mullecarjoona, Calanadha, and Bheemeswara.

These three lingums are said to have marked the chief boundaries of the country known in modern times by the name of Telingana. The

"the countries where the Tamil and Karnataca tongues are prevalent"-Speaking of a cast known by the name of Baydaru, he observes" Those in the North-eastern parts of the Mysore Ra. jah's dominions are of Telinga descent, and retain that language-They seem to be the true "Sádra cultivators and military of Telingana, and to have been introduced in great numbers in❝ to the southern countries of the Peninsula, when these became subject to Andray, or Telingana ❝ princes."

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* See the Preface of Maumidi Vencayah, a learned native inhabitant of Masulipatam, to his Teloogoo Dictionary, the copy right of which has been purchased by the Madras Government; and the original authorities therein referred to. Among others, the Adhurvana Vyacuṛnum, as

given in the Andhra Cowmudi, from which the following is a quotation. F0DL TES మ హే౦ద్ర రిసంయుతం | ప్రాకారంతుమహత్కృత్వా శ్రీ ణిద్వారాణిచా కరోత్ | త్రిలోచ మోమ హేశ స్పత్రిశూలంచక రేవహ౯ | త్రిలింగరూ పీన్యవ సత్ త్రి ద్వా రేముగణైవృకా తః | ఆంధ్ర విష్ణుస్సుర యుతోదను జేన ని శంభునా యుధ్వాత్రయోదశయు గాF హత్వాతం రాయ ఘోత్తమం | అవ సత్తత్ర ఋషిభియులతో గోదావరీత టెతత్కాల ప్రభృతి తే. త్రం త్రిలింగ

మితివి శ్రుతం.

He (alluding to Andhra Vishtnoo the son of Soochundra hereafter mentioned) having built an immense wall, connecting Shri Shuelum, Bheemeswaram, and Caleswaram, with the Mahendra hills, formed in it three gates, in which the three eyed Ishwara, bearing the trident in his hand, and attended by a host of divinities, resided in the form of three lingums. AndhraVishtnoo, assisted by angels, having fought with the great giant Nishumboo, for thirteen yoogs, killed him in battle, and took up his residence with the sages on the banks of the Godavery, since which time, this country has been named Trilingum. Then follows the passage given in the last Teloogoo quotation in the notes to this introduction.

+ Triin Sanscrit, and Moodo, in the inferior, or Modo or Modoga in the superior dialect of the pure Teloogoo, all mean three,

first, that of Shri Shuelum, still celebrated in the Deccan, is particularly described in the extract from Captain Colin Me‘Kenzie's journal inserted in the 5th volume of the Asiatic Researches, of which a part is subjoined in a note below.* It is romantically situated in an unfrequented spot, surrounded by an almost impenetrable forest, among the wild mountains through which the impetuous current of the Kistna forces it's passage from the high table land to the plains, and forms the termination of that chain of hills, which, from the vicinity of the great temple at Tripetty, winds to the north in irregular and separate ranges. In Arrowsmith's Map of 1804, it is placed near the Nalmul hills in Canoul (Kurnool) uuder the name of Parrawottum, upon the Kistna, just before that river. takes a sudden but short direction to the north. It is the second of the twelve Jyotee lingums mentioned as peculiarly holy, in the 38th Adhyaye of the Sheev Pooran; and, in the Brahmanda Pooran, it is also mentioned as the eighth of the second class of mountains. In the year 1677, we find Sevajee, the celebrated founder of the Mahratta Empire, performing penance at this shrine ; and, on the annual recurrence of the Shivaratree, or the night sacred to Shiva, immense crowds of people still flock thither from all parts of Hindoostan.*

On entering the south gate," says Captain McKenzie, we descended by steps through a small door to the inner court, where the temple are. In the center was the Pagoda of Malle. ❝oarjee, the principal deity worshipped here. It is square, and the roof is terminated by a pyramid of steps, the whole walls and roof on the outside are covered with brass plates, which ❝ have been guilt, but the gilding is worn off. From hence I was conducted to the smaller and ❝ more antient temple of Mallecarjee, where he is adored in the figure of a rude stone, which I could just distinguish, thro' the dark vista of the front buildings, on pillars. Behind this building, an immense fig tree covers with it's shade the devotees and attendants, who repose ❝on seats placed round it's trunk, and carpeted; among these was one Byragy who had devoted himself to a perpetual residence here, his sole subsistence was the milk of a cow which I saw ❝ him driving before him, an orange colored rag was tied round his loins, and his naked body was besmeared with ashes." " It appears that the GoD Mallekarjee is no other than the ingum to which such reverence is paid by certain casts of Gentoos." Captain McKenzie adds a curious account of the manner in which the lingum was shewn to him, by means of a mirror refecting the rays of the sun upon it, and describes it as "a small oblong roundish white stone, with dark rings, fixed in a silver case."

see Wilkes' South of India,

The present Nabob of Kurnool, a tributary of the East India Company, in whose territory this Pagoda is situated, collects on this occasion a considerable revenue from the pilgrims; to se cure which, he deputes an officer with a certain number of Sepoys: but, with that intolerant bi. gotry, which more or less influences all who profess the faith of Mahomed, he has resisted every application from the Hindoos to be permitted to repair this very ancient temple, which is now fast falling to decay.

iv

The second lingum at Caleswarum, visited occassionally by a great concourse of pilgrims, is situated on the spot where Arrowsmith places Callysair Ghaut on the Godavery, and is the same that is described by Captain Blunt, in the seventh volume of the Asiatic Researches, under the name of a Pagoda sacred to Cali, stan ling on the very boundary of Telingana, where the Baun Gunga joins the Godavary.t

I have not yet succeeded in establishing to my satisfaction the site of the third lingum, worshipped under the name of Bheemeswara, which I am inclined to believe is the same as Bheema Shenker, the sixth of the twelve Jyotee lingums, enumerated in the Sheev Pooran, and there stated to be situated in the Deccan. The best informed natives give a very vague account of the site of this temple, some asserting it to be in the Northern Circars, where it is known by the name of Dracharamum, others in the western Ghauts, or, as they describe it, " towards Poona"-A Temple of this name is cursorily mentioned by Dr. Francis Buchanan as standing in the immense chain of hills which runs along the western side of the Penin sula; and, as this is near the southwest junction of the Mahratta, Mysore, and Telingana territories, it is perhaps the third lingum*-Be this as it may, the situations of the two other lingums sufficiently evince the correctness of the of the tradition which describes them as the boundaries of the country termed Tri-lingum, subsequently known to the Mahommedan conquerors of the Deccan under the modified name of Telingana; for the

"I might now" says Captain Blunt " be said to have entered upon those parts of India "known by the name of Telingana-The inhabitants of which are called Tellingahs and speak a "language peculiar to themselves This dialect appears to bear a strong resemblance to what "in the Circars is called Gentoos-After the heat of the day, and length of the march, our situa ❝tion close to the river had a very refreshing and pleasing effect-I was highly delighted with the "romantic view which the confluence of the Godavery and Baun Gunga rivers now presented "I could see quite up to the fort Suruncha, and an opening beyond it likewise shewed the junc ❝tion of the Inderwotty river with the latter-The blue mountains and distant forests which "terminated the prospect rendered the whole a very sublime and interesting scene There is a "small Pagoda sacred to the Hindoo Goddess Cali, situated on the north east bank of the river, "at the confluence, which imparts it's name to this passage over the Gunga Godavery, called "Calesair Ghaut, and annually draws a great concourse of pilgrims, who from ideas of purification come to wash in the waters of the confluent streams."

* "Dr. Buchanan's travels Vol. III Chapter XVI Page 134." At Sheraly is a river called She "raly-tari-which comes from a temple on the Ghauts that is termed Bhimesara"-N. B. She "raly is placed by Arrowsmith to the South of Ouore on the Coast of Canara, under the name of" Serowly"-in the latitude of which the boundaries of the three countries abovementioned meet,

northern and southern limits of Telingana proper, as exhibited in our best maps, will be found to coincide very nearly with the sites of these two temples.

In further confirmation of this tradition, it may be noticed that Ptolemy mentions" Triglyphon vel Trilingum regia"† but places it beyond the Ganges; and that Pliny, alluding to the same region, under it's purer name of Modogalingum makes it an island in the Ganges-" Insula in gange estmagnæ amplitudinis, gentem continens unam, Modogalingum-nomine.”

Inaccuracies respecting situation are not uncommon in the writings of the ancients relative to Indian geography, and those which have just been mentioned, with some other similar inconsistencies, may perhaps be reconciled, by supposing that under the name of the Ganges, either the Ganges proper, or the Godavery, may occasionally be understood. In the Peninsula, each of these rivers is known by the name of the Gunga, and they are looked upon as sister streams. ** The Godavery is here considered the elder of the two, perhaps from it's being the first known to the inhabitants of these regions; and the Ganges proper is deemed the more holy, apparently from the present religion of India, having originated, or been more early established, on its banks. The ancient books* of the Hindoos, indeed, bear testimony that, even in the most remote times, these two rivers have occasionally been considered as one; for, in more than one place

+ He adds, in hac galli gallinacei barbati esse dicuntur, et corvi et psittaci albi- & TX: 2, the Sicacollum of Arrowsmith, which stands in the Masulipatam district, a little above the mouth. fthe Krishna, is the Sanscrit name for a peculiar red or whitish crow.

It has been already stated that Fri and Modoga are synonimous terms.-.

**So intimate is the connexion between these two rivers, that those who carry the the sacred water of the Ganges to the south of India, when they arrive on the banks of the Godavery, inva. riably replace the water of the Ganges, evaporated on the journey, by water taken from it's sister stream the Godavery. The whole is notwithstanding considered to be the pure water of the Gan ges, and this ceremony is never omitted. If it were, it is believed, and perhaps with reason, that the water would disappear before it could reach Rameswarum.

* In the Vayu Puran the course of the Ganges is thus described" The Ganges flows through "the Gand,harvas, Cinnaras, Yacshas, Racshasas, Vidyad haras. (Uragas or large snakes; "these are tribes of demons good and bad in the hills) Calapagramacas, Paradas, Sviganas,. "Svasas Ceratas, Pulindas, Curavas in Curu about Tanehsar, Sam-Bharatas, Panchalas, C'asi or "Benares, Maesyas, Magadhas (or South Behar) Brahmottaras, Angas, Bangas, Calingas." &c. Asiatic researches Vol. Sth. Essay on the sacred isles in the west.