and miscellaneous. The two last of these form more than half the work, but are omitted in the present volume because devoid of interest and utility. The student will perhaps find the second and third chapters easier than the first, which may, therefore, be read afterwards.
A system of obscure and unprofitable doctrines regarding mysticism in much studied among the Telugus ; in such reveries VEMANA has indulged at great length, and there his meaning is often doubtful. Of such verses I have retained only a few of the easiest. Among the satirical epigrams I have omitted several wherein railing was substituted for just remarks; and should perhaps have excluded yet more, but that I observed these to be remarkably popular among the Telugus.
A few others are left out as more properly belonging to the collections known by the names of Bha'scaha and Sumati: while some were rejected as being riddles attributed not to Vemana but an epigrammatist named Tiromale'sa.
A miscellaneous collection of unconnected verses, like the present, is generally denominated a satacam, which answers to the Garlands or Centuries composed by English poets in old days; being a series of verses which are similar in metre, subject, and chorus. These are generally numbered in separate hundreds, but it appeared unnecessary to retain either that arrangement, or that title, in the present volume, which more nearly resembles the Anthologies collected in Greek and Latin literature.
It is not easy to ascertain any thing regarding the history of Vemana, which is the personal name of the
