In 1567 Fr. H. Henrique? began a school of Tamil at Punnei Kayal for the young Goans who were sent there as catechists. Fr. Henriquez himself was teacher and a convert Brahman, named Luiz, was his assistant 2 . At the very court of Chandragiri the Jesuits started another school of this type. It was supposed to be a school for the sons of the Telugu nobles who were living at the court. There was in it a Hindu teacher under the direction of the missionaries, who besides defrayed the expenses of the institution 3 . This school and that of Madura are mentioned again in another Jesuit letter of the following year 1607 4 ; and we suppose they continued in the following years. The Chandragiri school was perhaps transferred to Vellore when the capital was established there, and finally closed at the time of the final departure of the Jesuits. These were the first attempts of the Jesuits in the South of India to found the institutions of learning which were to have a marvellous development centuries after. 14. The Jesuits had, moreover, earnestly studied the lan- guages of the country; and some of them, as we have already seen in the case of Fr. de Nobili at Madura, mastered them to the general admiration of scholars. Among those who were working at the court of Venkata there were also some who be- came very proficient in speaking the vernaculars. " In this country of (around) Sao Thome," wrote Fr. Ricio in 1601, "two languages are spoken ; one is the language of the country, the same that is spoken on the Fishery Coast and which was the first I learned ; the other is the language of the Badaguas (Telugu) ; and since they are alike, I made quick progress in it ; so much so that I was soon able to write a grammar of the same language as well as a summary of the Christian doctrine together with many mysteries of the life of Christ, all written in their own language " l . This summary of the Christian Faith was a translation of the one used in Konkani for the neophytes of the peninsula of Salsette, South of Goa, as Fr. Coutinho writes in a letter of the previous year a . It seems, indeed, that Fr. Ricio spoke Telugu to perfection; a Jesuit letter of the year 1606 says that he was a good Telugu scholar 3 . Nevertheless he did not venture to learn Sanskrit because of his age, as Fr. Laerzio wrote in 1604 4 . In the same letter we read that Fr. Coutinho had begun to learn Telugu. In another letter Fr. Ricio himself informs us that Coutinho is making progress in the study of Telugu 5 . He finally be- came master of it, as is evident from his protractedly sojourn at the court where he had to transact business for the King. 15. A special feature introduced by the Jesuit missionaries of the Empire of Vijayanagara in the literary activity of India, was the casting of Tamilian characters ; and consequently the printing of the first books in Tamil. According to Fra Paolino de San Bartoiomeo, the first to cast Tamilian characters was the Jesuit Lay Brother Giovanni (Joao) Gonsalves. The same travel- ler affirms that the first book was printed in the year 1577. It was a summary of the Christian doctrine 6 . Fra Paolino does not name the author of this book ; but it seems quite probable to us that Fr. Henrique Henriquez, a zealous Jesuit on the Fishery Coast, and a contemporary of St. Francis Xavier, was at least its translator. Fr. du Jarric states that Henriquez wrote many books in the language of Malabar, in lingua Maldbarica, viz. in Tamil f . Now we know for certain that one of these books was a translation of a Christian Doctrine written in Portu- guese by Fr. Marcos Jorge. Sartorius, while in Tranquebar, saw a copy of this book printed in 1679 2 . This must be a later edition, for Fr. Henriquez had died by that time. Both editiors of this little book were printed at Cochin in the Jesuit College of the Madre de Deus 3 . Fra Paolino says, moreover, that a new Tamil book appeared in 1578. It was entitled Flos Sanctorum, from which title we may assume that it contained the lives of some Saints 4 . This work seems to have been printed at Punnei Kayal with Tamil type cast by Fr. Joao de Faria B . Fr. De Souza, speaking of these early printings adds : " Those countries were marvelling at the new invention, and pagans as well as Christians tried to obtain these printed books and prized them highly " 6 . 16. Finally we must mention that the old South Indian Nandinagari alphabet disappeared during this period. Its latest examples are dated 1600. It was the favourite alphabet of the Madhva sect from the I4th century onwards, especially for writing on palm-leaves. The disciples of this sect were numer- ous in the Tamil country : Kanchivaram, Kumbhakonam, Tan- jore and their surroundings. The characters had been former- ly employed exclusively for writing on paper, but were latterly also used for writing on palm -leaves. Later on, after the Maratha conquest of Tanjore, the modern Nagari character was also introduced in the South 7 . Sources 1. From Fr. F. Kicio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Chandragiri, October 20th, 1601, Ap.C, No. I. 2. From Fr. B. Coutinho to Fr. 0. Aquaviva, Chandragiri, July 17th, 1600, Ibid., No. V. 3. Litterae Annuae of the Province of Malabar, 1604-1606, Ibid., - No. XXII. 4. From Fr. A. Laerzio to Fr. J. Alvarez, Cochin, January 18th t 1604, Ibid., No. X. 5. From Fr. F. Ricio to Fr. C. Aquaviva, Chandragiri, October 20tb, 1601, Ibid., No. I. 6. Fra Paolino de San Bartoiomeo, Viaggio, p. 44. Cf. C. E. K. Notes on Early-Printed Tamil Books, Ind. Ant., II, p. 180. Cf. Hou- pert, The Madura Mission Manual, p. 171. Bro. Gorsalves was a Spaniard. Cf. Souza, Qriente Conqyistado, II, p. 67,
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