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xiv Contents of the Notices.-23. The number of Vedic works or portions of the Vedas in the published Notices is limited, and all of them, have been seen or obtained at Benares, not a single codex having been seen in the possession of a Pandit of Bengal in the several Toles which have been visited. This total absence of the most important and most revered of Sanskrit works in the libraries of those who have been the principal custodians of Sanskrit literature is a remarkable fact, and it is usually accounted for by the Pandits by reference to a verse of the Yogini Tantra which says, "whoever keeps MSS. of the Vedas in his home, soon finds his abode struck by lightning." The verse is obviously due to the sectarian zeal of the Tantra which would admit of no rival in its neighbourhood, but the true cause, I believe, is that Bengal has never been the seat of a Vedic school, and consequently it has never been taught here, nor MSS. prepared or preserved. It is said that when on the overthrow of the Pala rajas, Adisura, the Hindu sovereign of Bengal, wanted to celebrate a great Vedic sacrifice, he could find no native Brahman competent to officiate at it, and had to indent for five learned priests from Kanauj. These priests settled in the country, and gave new life to Hinduism everywhere; and many of their descendants have been noted as great scholars and distinguished authors; but they do not seem to have cultivated the Vedas, and there is not a single treatise on the Vedas or Vedic learning among their writings. Their special forte has been philosophy, and works on the subject are abundant everywhere. The Nyaya schools of Tirhut and Nuddia have enjoyed deserved celebrity all over India, and every Pandit of any note has some work or other on the subject, not common elsewhere. Works on the Vedanta are also numerous. The former class is represented in the published Notices by 98 treatises, and the latter by 67, codices. The Upanishads as bearing on the Vedanta are represented by 92 works. The Tantras come next to Nyaya; Bengal is particularly noted for them, and of them I have noticed 205 works or parts of works. In my last report I have already given an account of the nature and character of this class of works. Grammar, Lexicography, Rhetoric and other branches of Sanskrit learning are also fairly represented in my Notices, as will be evident from the following classified list: I. Veda Sastra. a. 608 Samhita (Hymns), b. Brahmana (Ceremonials), 67 2 9