his monarch in a foreign land. He died under tragic circumstances in March 1819. While visiting Ramnad as a guest of the district Collector Mr. Peter, he accidently swallowed some unidentified poison which ended his life. He had lived for twenty-three years in India at the time of his death. During this short period, he “early devoted himself to the study of the languages, history and antiquities of the land in which his lost was cost.”¹²

After the early and tragic death of this administrator, there was unfortunately no one at that time who understood the immense value of his work. Most of his property was sold by auction under orders of the Government, both at Madras and at Madura. All his valuable papers, their value unrecognised, were either lost or destroyed. It is a pity that Ellis had not printed all that he had gathered and written down. He was interested in much and from what little has been saved we know that he had written down a mine of valuable information. The tragedy of the loss becomes apparent when we read Sir Walter Elliot’s statement which says: that it was “currently reported that they” (Mr. Ellis’ Papers) “Served Mr. Peter’s cook for months to kindle his fire.”

Mr. Ellis made a deep study of Sanskrit and mastered the four main Dravidian languages. A deep and penetrative study of the Dravidian languages, convinced Ellis beyond all doubt that these languages were a separate entity and did not belong to the Sanskrit group; nor did they need its assistance for survival despite often being intermixed and beautified by Sanskrit words.

“….He devoted all his spare time to the cultivation of Sanskrit and the various dialects peculiar to Southern India. Having determined to publish nothing until he had exhausted every available source of informations, he had amassed a vast amount of material, the elaboration of which would have shed a flood of light on the still obscure history of that region, and likewise anticipated much of the knowledge of its philosophy and literature which recent researches have brought to light.”¹³

12, 13. Sir Walter Elliot in the Anthoeneum quoted in the Indian Antiquary, Volume IV, 1875, Pp. 219-221.