In submitting the present work to the Public, the Editor begs leave to offer some explanatory remarks.
1. The author of this Grammar is the Rev. H. Gundert, late of the Basel Evangelical Mission in Malabar and Canara. To acquaint himself with the character and religious views of the people, to reach and benefit the masses, to nourish the young Church by a sound literature and Christian lyrics, and to translate the Bible out of the original tongues, he read and studied thoroughly whatever he could get hold of in Malayalim{{{1}}} Poetical and Prose writings, and embodied the result of his researches in a Malayalim Grammar and Dictionary, which latter work will D. V. appear ere long. For a quarter of a century Dr. Gundert directed his chief energies to the accomplishment of this aim, continually enriching the materials of the Grammar even after he had left the country, so that this work can fairly claim to be considered a scrupulous exponent of the Malayalim language, in its ancient and modern dialects.
Dr. Gundert edited a portion of this work at Tellicherry in 1851, carrying it as far as Section 552. 2 [old number 545. 2.]; and in 1860, when Inspector of Government Schools in Malabar and Canara, he published the "First Catechism of Malayalim Grammar", which was corrected by himself and handed over by the Editor to his successor in office, Mr. L. Garthwaite, in 1865.
The want of a more complete Grammar for the Government Schools having been felt, Dr. Gundert was repeatedly urged to finish the present work. Though burdened with literary and other labours at home, he not only carefully revised the above mentioned lithographed edition
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