C.P.Brown – An introduction

DAVID BROWN, FATHER OF C.P.BROWN
CHARLES PHILIP BROWN:

  • 1798 NOVEMBER 10 : Born in Calcutta to Rev. David Brown and (Frances) Cowley.
  • 1812 JUNE 14 : Father’s death.Left for England with his mother and other members of the family.
  • 1814 JANUARY 19 : Joined the Haileybury College where he studied for two years.
  • 1816 JUNE 30 : Writer’s rank awarded and allotted to the Madras Civil Service.
  • 1817 AUGUST 3/4 : landed at Madras. AUGUST 13 : Joined the Fort St. George College, studied Telugu and Marathi.
  • 1820 JUNE : passed out of the College and was impressed by the valedictory address of Munro. AUGUST : Appointed as assistant to the Collector, Cuddapah.
  • 1821 Launched two schools in Cuddapah enabling free education in Telugu and Hindustani.
  • 1822 Transferred to Masulipatnam as Register to Zilla Court.
  • 1823 Acting in leave vacancy as judge, he suspended the court nazir and others ( some of the suspension orders were later cancelled by the government ).
  • 1824 Discovery of Vemana : read about Vemana in Abbe Dubois’ book ; began collecting palm-leaf copies of verses of Vemana ; started studying and translating them; interested himself in Telugu prosody as a tool to solve the textual problems.
  • 1825 Transferred to Rajahmundry as Head Assistant to the Collector and Magistrate. Dismissed the salt daroga, Gavarraju, on charges of corruption ( later the govt. reversed the order and reinstated the daroga in service). DECEMBER : submitted a monograph on Telugu prosody to the Madras College Board for publication.
  • 1826 Transferred to Cuddapah as Registrar to Zilla Court; worked for a brief tenure as incharge Assistant Judge and Joint Criminal Judge ; moved to Cumbum as Judge of the Auxiliary Court.
  • 1827 His first book on Telugu prosody printed at the College Press, Madras was published . Sent proposals to the govt. to strengthen the Telugu dept. of the College especially by establishing a Telugu reference library.
  • 1828 Submitted proposals for improving the quality of Telugu printing in the College Press . Bought a bungalow at Cuddapah, besides housing his Telugu mss. library, the building provided working space to native pandits who were engaged in preparing the mss. editions of Telugu Kavyas and also commentaries.
  • 1829 His second book, the Verses of Vemana, came out of the College Press. Posted to Trichinopoly as Registrar of the Provincial Court of Appeal and Circuit, Southern Division.Submitted a ms. version of Telugu Dictionary to the College Board for publication, the Board kept it in cold storage. Transferred to Rajahmundry as Assistant Judge and Joint Criminal Judge.
  • 1832 DECEMBER : Posted as acting Collector of Guntur District during the great Guntur Famine .
  • 1833 MARCH 19 transferred to Chittoor as Zilla Judge; after about a month again transferred to Auxiliary Court at Rajahmundry ; worked in Rajahmundry – Masulipatnam Division . During the period he endeavoured to establish a Telugu printing press at Masulipatnam did not succeed. OCTOBER : He was caught in the web of legal controversies and dismissed from service for wrong legal interpretations in certain cases of perjury and forgery. NOVEMBER 14: British Govt. confirmed his dismissal after rejecting his appeal. NOVEMBER 26 : He appealed to the Court of Directors, London, praying for re-employment. DECEMBER 2 : Three years leave on absentee allowance of Rs. 500 per annum was granted. Left for England.
  • 1835 At London began working on his Telugu Grammar and Telugu Dictionary and finished the first draft of Grammar and transcribing of the eight volume dictionary notes. Presented two Andhra Paintings to the Royal Asiatic Society. Published an essay on Sanskrit Prosody in the Asiatic Journal (1837) on the advice of Prof. Rosen Enjoyed the hospitability of H.H. Wilson at Oxford; ‘discovered’ the South Indian mss. in the I.O.L. and prepared their catalogue for which the Court of Directors acknowledged his services.
  • 1836 AUGUST : return to India ; on his voyage to India met Caldwell on board the ship and became his life – long friend.
  • 1838 JANUARY 7 : Landed at Madras. JANUARY 23 : Was appointed Persian translator to govt. MARCH 2 : Became acting Secretary and later member of the College Board and Native Education Committee. Published Telugu translation of the New Testament.
  • 1839 JANUARY 22 : Appointed acting Registrar, Sudr Adalut Court. MAY 20 : Supdt. Of Govt. Lotteries.Became co-editor of the Madras Journal of Literature and Science and published his major essays on Telugu language and literature. The second and enlarged edition of the Verses of Vemana came out.
  • 1840 APRIL 7 : He took charge as acting Civil Auditor and Supt. of Stamps .
  • 1841 Published a book on Telugu Grammar.
  • 1841 FEBRUARY 19 : Became acting Collector of Sea Customs. AUGUST 31 : He was appointed acting Post Master General.Was entrusted by the govt. with the compiling of a Glossary of Revenue and Judicial terms in the Southern region, as part of all-India Glossary. Telugu poems in dwipada such as Raghvacharyulu’s Nala Chakravarthi Katha,Gaurana’s Harischandropakhyanam with extracts from Navanadha Charitra, and several Satakams and Yakshaganams like Sita kalyanam were printed in quick succession under his active and editorial supervision . SEPTEMBER 29 : Became acting Secretary of the Madras University Board. Adiparvam, the first canto of the Telugu Mahabharatam, was published under his editorial care by the Vidyakhala Press of Umapati Mudalari, Madras.
  • 1843 Started in Madras a school for free teaching of Telugu, Tamil and English ( the management of which was later on entrusted to a Christian gentleman ).Printed Vasu Charitra with commentary.Commencement of printing of his Dictionaries : Telugu-English and English-Telugu by an agreement with S.P.C.K. JANUARY 27 : donated his huge ms.library to the Madras Literary Society.
  • 1844 JULY 3 : Received full charge of Post Master General and also became Telugu translator to govt. AUGUST 4 : Became member of the Council of Education.
  • 1845 Lewin’s allegations against Brown’s duties as Post Master General at the zenith of the Hindu-Christian feuds at Madras.Had to face another allegation that he was author of an anonymous article in the Atlas of Madras.
  • 1849 Published an annotated edition of Memoris of Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan.
  • 1850 Brought out Ephemeries, 1751-1850; and Cyclic Tables of Hindu and Mahomedan Chronology.
  • 1851 Printed Manu Charitra with commentary.
  • 1852 MARCH 29 : attained the rank of First Class Civil Servant.Published Telugu Reader in 3 parts, Zilla Dictionary, and Vakyavali.
  • 1853 Brought out the Wars of Rajas, and Dialogues (2nd edn.) April 16: had an attack of Brain Fever (paralysis); on leave at Nilagiris ; met the missionary-linguist, Benahard Schmid and financed the republication of his Tamil tracts; visited Bangalore, Mysore and Seringapatam.
  • 1854 Was permitted to resign from 1st MAY. Retired from service with a pension of £ 920 a year.His two Dictionaries along with the third, Mishra Nighantu (Mixed Dialects) came out from press in succession.
  • 1855 Published Tales of Tatachari and Disputations on Village Business (along with the English translation). JUNE : left for London.
  • 1856 In London wrote introduction to the enlarged edn. of his Telugu Grammar under print in India and sent to Madras by post parcel.
  • 1857 Second edn. of his Telugu Grammar came out.
  • 1859 Printed the Experience of Nicholas.
  • 1860 Delivered lectures in 12 Towns on the post – Mutiny India (the dates and the text are yet to be collected) Resumed Telugu reading, leisurely perusing the latest important Telugu books that were coming out from the printing press at Madras and keeping himself up-to-date with the developing trends in the Telugu literature.
  • 1863 Published Carnatic Chlronology (revised edn. of Cyclic Tables).
  • 1865 Became Prof. of Telugu in the London University (the exact date of appointment is yet to be ascertained).
  • 1866 Printed his Autobiography for private circulation.
  • 1869 Became Telugu Examiner for the I.C.S. tests.Brought out the revised edn. of Sancrit Prosody under the persuation of Goldstucker. Further revision of his Telugu Grammar in NOVEMBER prepared a press copy of the third edn.In the interleaved copies of his printed Telugu Dictionaries, he was almost daily making extensive additions and emendations which grew to a great bulk.
  • 1871 Published two essays in the Journal of Royal Asiatic Society.
  • 1872 Brought out the revised edn. of Autobiography.
  • 1884 NOVEMBER 3 : executed a will. DECEMBER 12 : passed away.
  • 1885 MARCH 3 : as stipulated in the will, his library of mss. and private papers moved in I.O.L. London , to inspire a new era of Telugu at Tirupati, nearly a century later.

 
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