With synonyms and the third has a glossary of the subordinate species of the technical and general terms of science and literature; the last division has words which, except for the first syllable rhyme and hence could be used in poetry. These four divisions are completely exhaustive in their respective treatments. Beschi calls the work in his Preface “I like to call this volume, “Treasure of the Tamil Language.”7 It is interesting to note what the author himself says about these four parts. “I give (i) the dictionary where in is unfolded the double and manifold force and power of all words as they are mostly used by writers of high Tamil, (ii) synonyms where I propose mostly the nouns and the explanations of every object given by the same authors, (iii) besides, as many things are in this language expressed by means of numbers, as two good things, three words, four citadels, five senses, six tastes, seven seas, eight mountains and so forth, you find in the 3rd section, the explanations of these things as found among authors here and there. Finally to be of use to poetry, I present in one collection words having only the first letter different and with the same syllables and same sound.”8 It is almost impossible for us now to know the exact number of words Beschi had collected for each edition. The Caturakarāti when published in its full form in 1824 had as we noted earlier, four sections. Each section had a supplement and an errata section added to it. For instance in the supplementary section of the Peyarakarāti efforts were made to fulfil the overlooked grammatical uses of the words which were originally given in it. For example, let us take the list of words given which begin with the letter a. He has given a Cuṭṭeḻuttu in the supplementary which was not mentioned in the main section. Similarly, he has included grammatical notes in the supplement for akaram, akaval and aḵkal etc. There has been additional meaning included in the supplement for certain words. For example:
7. Beschi, Ibid. 8. Tamil Lexican, Ibid. P. XXXVII |