Colin Mackenzie was born in the island of Levis in Scotland in 1753. He had developed great interest in mathematics at a very young age. He joined as Cadet Engineer in the East India Company and arrived in Madras in 1783. He was drawn by the immense scholarship of Sanskrit Pandits who were concentrated in Madurai. Not only in mathematics, they were well versed in Vedas, Puranas, history, sciences (sastras), and literature. He availed their help in acquiring many rare manuscripts.
He was appointed to do survey work of South India and prepare maps. During his spare time, he went on collecting manuscripts in all South Indian languages. In those years of hard travel he had covered 40,000 miles on palanquins, horse and foot.! The magnitude of his collection can be guessed from the following list:
• Inscriptions (estampages and copies) – 8,076
• Manuscript in thirteen languages including Burmese and Javanese – 1,568
• Local ‘Tracts’ (the word he used for sthalapuran) – 264
• Annals and Ballads – 2,070
• Their translations in English – 75 volumes
• Drawings – 2,630
• Coins of different dynasties and times (gold, silver, copper etc) – 6,218
• Icons (silver, copper, bronze and stone) – 106
In 1817 he was appointed as first Surveyor General of India and had to move to Calcutta which was the British capital at the time.
For 38 years he worked day and night without ever availing leave or a holiday. At long last his health failed. He wanted to go to England to avail his hard-earned leave of three year and return to do the compiling of all the material he collected. But he died on the banks of Hooghly on May 8,1821.
Mackenzie was ably assisted in his work by one Kavali Boraiah and on his demise by his brother Kavali Venkatalaxmaiah, who helped collect Kannada manuscripts and inscriptions. There were Pandits in Marathi, Persian, Tamil and Telugu whose assistance he richly availed.
Mackenzie had spent fifteen thousand ponds for the collection. After his death, East India Company purchased his valuable collection and sent it to London. Part of the Kannada manuscripts came back to Madras in 1858, when the British government established Oriental Manuscript Library.
Colin Mackenzie was also responsible in encouraging poet Devachandra to write his rare book 'Rajavali Kathe' (story of royal lines). It contains history, happenings and anecdotes connected with dynasties that ruled Karnataka and mainly the Wodeyars of Mysore, whose patronage Devachandra, a Jaina, availed. Mackenzie was greatly impressed by Devachandra’s vast knowledge of his region, geography, history, rituals and customs included. He wanted the poet to accompany him to Calcutta to put to use the poet’s scholarship. The poet declined politely.
Most of the items of Mackenzie collections are in the catalogue form, in India Office Library in London. Several are translated in English. Mackenzie collection Part II (General) is printed – but lacks index.
