The Beautiful Tree: Indigenous Indian Education in the Eighteenth Century c5.s19.10.1

c5.s19.10.1

B. In the beginning the Bramins of Malabar used to be instructed in Religion at the Chetroms (or Temples) nearest to their houses by the teachers of that time, but it was apprehended that learning after that manner would not be attended with advantage. A consultation was therefore held by the Bramins, when it was determined that a College should be instituted for the purposes of instructing all persons in the principles of Religion. A spot of ground (adjacent to the river) to the southward of Teroonavya Chetrom in Terooina: nisherynad Hobby, Cootnad Talook, was fixed upon for the proposed building and all of them waited on and reported the circumstance to our ancestor the then reigning Rajah who caused a College to be built at his expense on the spot pointed out by them, and ordered that all persons residing in it should be furnished with their daily meal and oil, and further, ordered a store house to be built and the appointment of a person to be incharge of the same—the Bramins accordingly, (agreeable to the respective means of each) allotted for this purpose a certain portion of rice lands, and Achipora Erkara Namboory was by general consent, chosen Instructor in the college for whose subsistence some further rice lands were given by the Bramins and from that time the members of that family continue holding the above employment. This is what I have heard my ancestors and the Bramins say. There is no document containing an account of the foregoing transaction.