Papers of Ram Raz

The Papers of Ram Raz contain an incomplete draft of his Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus with an associated letter from H.H. Wilson to Captain Harkness, Royal Asiatic Society. The papers also contain a 'Translation of a Hukamnamah or a Code of Rules enacted by the late Tippoo Sultan, the Sovereign of Mysore for the conduct of his Amilders'.

Ram Raz was born in Tanjore in 1790. He mastered English while working as a clerk with the 2nd Battalion of the 16th Madras Native Infantry Regiment. He then became a vakil. Around 1815 he was a clerk in the office of the English Military Auditor General. He helped translate Tipu Sultan's code of regulations for revenue officers from Marathi to English. He was appointed head English master at the college of Fort St. George in Madras and subsequently was appointed to the position of Native Judge in Bangalore, Mysore state, where he worked for 23 years. He became a Corresponding Member of the Royal Asiatic Society in 1828 and his paper, On tiral by Jury was published in the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol.3, 1836, pp. 244-57.

From about 1825 onwards, at the suggestion of Richard Clarke, Madras Civil Service, Ram Raz began preparing material for a translation of the Silpa Sastra - the Hindu treatise on art. He commissioned accurate drawings from Indian artists working for the Survey Department, Madras. The work was completed by the end of 1831 and together with the translation were sent to the Royal Asiatic Society. They were received in July 1832 and it was agreed to publish the work. However, Ram Raz died circa 1833 and failed to see the publication which was printed in 1834.

The material was divided into two files.

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The Essay was received by the Society in July 1832 and the 'Translation of a Hukamnamah' was received on 26 May 1834.

These papers were catalogued by Nancy Charley, RAS Archivist, in 2022.

Digital photography (without flash) for research purposes may be permitted upon completion of a copyright declaration form, and with respect to current UK copyright law.

The papers were written by Ram Raz and given to Richard Clarke who sent them to the Royal Asiatic Society.

The drawings commissioned by Ram Raz, to go alongside his Essay on the Architecture of the Hindus, form part of the Collections (Head. Cat. No. 034). These also include further drawings related to the fifty-two columns of Tirumal Nayak's palace at Madura.