PART-I
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
MACKENZIE KAIFIYATS
OF
GUNTUR DISTRICT
In the fitness of things it is just to say something about the origin of these records. A brief account of Colonel Colin Mackenzie after whom-these voluminous records are called is furnished by Prof. T. V. Mahalingam in his introduction to Mackenzie Manuscripts, Vol. 1 (University of Madras, 1972). To this remarkable Englishman South Indians in general and Andhras in particular are much indebted. Mackenzie, he says, joined the Madras Engineers in 1783 in the service of the East India Company and toured throughout South India. In course of such tours he found several stones, particularly in temples, which contain writing in early scripts. In fact, at several places he noticed some unusual traces of ancient remains in the form of structures, mounds, and stray finds of sculpture etc., which excited his curiosity. As a consequence, an idea struck him to gather as much information as possible about these antiquarian remains which he considered to be of much value for the reconstruction of the history of the country. He succeeded in securing the services of a young talented man named Kavali Venkata Borraiah of Eluru in West Godavari district, who could decipher those old scripts preserved on stones in the temples all over the Andhra area. Mackenzie engaged him at his own expense. Borraiah, the first Andhra epigraphist, with the assistance of his brothers Lakshmaiah and Ramasvami could successfully copy some thousands of inscriptions in the coastal Andhra and Rayalaseema areas. As an associate work in his project Colin Mackenzie arranged for the collection of local records from the Karanams all over the State. Mackenzie became the Surveyor General of Madras in 1810. But soon after, he was called away to command the Engineers in Jawa, where he stayed till 1815. Again he was appointed as Surveyor-General of India in 1816 and died in 1821 near Calcutta.
His collections included as many as 1,568 manuscripts, in several languages particularly Tamil, Telugu and Canarese and some thousands of local accounts, the largest number of which are in Telugu. These accounts are called Local Tracts pertaining to various topics like history, land, biography, legendary and literary accounts,
