On 7 October 1851 Rajah Radhakanta Deb, celebrated compiler of the Sanskrit dictionary,Sabda-kalpadrum,wrote to H.H. Wilson Esq,East India House, London, that the Honorable the Court of Directors {of the East India Company} has presented him with a copy of the Rigveda of Doctor Von Max Muller.

Deb asked Wilson "to convey my sentiments of esteem and regard to the illustious editor of the Rigveda whose name Bhatta Makshamooler(according to your Christening I believe sounds as euphonical in our ears as that of a Dravida Pandita..."{Note: in the original, Bhatta Makshamooler is printed in the Nagari script.}

"It is only a very curious reflection on the vicissitudes of human affairs that the descendentsof the divine rishis should be studying on the banks of the Bhagirathi,the Jamna and the Sindhu,their holy sciptures published on the banks of the Thames by one whom they regard as a distant Mlechcha--this Mlechcha,the descendent of of the degraded Kshattriyas according to our Sastra and claiming a cognate origin with the Hindus according to the investigation of the modern philologists will ere long rise to the rank of as Veda Vyasa of the Kaliyuga.

---As Yavanacharya gave to the Hindus his system of Astronomy many centuries ago so the German Bhatta is now giving them his Edition of the Rigveda..."

Note: Deb was the (adopted) grandson of Moonshhee ( later Maharaja) .Nubkissen, the Persian tutor of Lord Clive , and was a Kayastha by caste.

Prof Rajesh Kochhar
Director
National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies
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