natives, with which he has voluntarily . superintended the printing of the present work, and the zeal with which he has made himself almost responsible for the accuracy of every rule; although the principle upon which.the work proceeds, has rendered it requisite to .depart in some points from the suggestions.communicated by him,.
The chief object of the following pages being to convey to the Telugu student, a clearer idea of the principles and the utility of the prosody of this language, than the works written by native criticks appear to afford, this system has taken the precedence of the Sanscrit in the arrangement which has been chosen; and when the student has advanced so far in the latter language as to require the whole of the rules given in the present work, he may find additional information in Mr. Colebrooke's Essay*[1] on the subject (as accurate and, learned as that writer's works always are), and also in Mr. Yates' Sanscrit Grammar. I should also remark, that the rarity of these> works in the South of India, has been a principal reason for tho consideration of the Sanscrit system here. I may at the same time be excused in adding, that these authors having explained the subject in the mode pursued by the native writers, have ultimately left it in a considerable state of obscurity.†[2]
It may not be quite irrelevant or devoid of utility, to conclude this preface by a brief detail of the various works in Telugu literature which are worthy of the student's attention, in the order in which it appears to the author that they may with benefit be perused.
