LANGUAGES, LITERATURE, AND EDUCATION.

The sacred books of the Hindus and all their ancient literature are in Sanscrit. This language has not been vernacular in India for several centuries past. But at some early period it must have been vernacular in the territory along the Ganges, and was probably understood in the north-west provinces. The Vedas are written in Sanscrit, and the Institutes of Menu (written in the same language) inculcate the daily reading of these works as one of the duties of the brahmins, the kshatryas, and the vaishyas, three of the four original Hindu castes. We cannot reasonably suppose that this duty would have been inculcated, unless these classes of people understood the language of the Vedas, and they could not all understand it unless it was their vernacular language.

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Sanscrit became the depository of the brahminical system of religion, and of all the ancient Hindu literature, and it continued to be understood and written by the learned, as the Latin was in Europe, long after it had ceased to be vernacular with any class of people. The Sanscrit is a highly polished language. Sir William Jones says:-"It is a language of wonderful structure, more perfect than the Greek, more copious than the Latin, and more exquisitely refined than either." Halhed says: a language it is very copious and nervous, and far exceeds the Greek and Arabic in the regularity of its etymology." Chezey calls it "the celebrated dialect, perhaps spoken by the gods of Homer; if not, worthy to be so." Professor H. H. Wilson, professor of Sanscrit in Oxford University, says: "The music of Sanscrit composition must ever be inadequately expressed by any other tongue." Similar opinions have also been expressed by Adelung, Talboys, Bournouff, Bopp, and other distinguished orientalists.

The Sanscrit language has not been vernacular in any part of India for some centuries past, and there are no means of ascertaining at what period it ceased to be used. It has continued to be studied, and some knowledge of it has always been regarded as necessary for the character of a well-educated brahmin. Not only are all their sacred books written in Sanscrit, but estab

lished usage, if no higher authority, has made it necessary that all the rites and ceremonies of the Hindu religion should be performed in this language, just as the ritual and services of the Roman Catholic Church are to be performed in Latin. So no brahmin can be qualified or competent, without some knowledge of the Sanscrit language, to perform the duties of a priest for his own nation.

The Sanscrit language has been the repository from which nearly all the theological, scientific, and technical words and terms in the vernacular languages have been taken. And as these languages become cultivated, and new works of science and literature are produced in them, the new terms required in such works will be obtained as far as possible, from the Sanscrit. So this language, containing as it already does, and furnishing as it will in future, the most important words and terms in the vernacular languages, will long if not always, make an important and interesting part of a liberal education over all India.

The Sanscrit language contains a large amount of literature, and great expectations were once entertained in Europe concerning its supposed value. This literature has been examined so far as is necessary to ascertain its character and value, and the expectations once cherished have not been realized. The literature includes grammars, dictionaries, and works on many different subjects, but all are of but little practical value. Indeed, it is an interesting fact in the history of India that it should have an ancient language so highly polished and containing so much literature, and yet of so little practical use. Many Sanscrit works have been printed in India and in Europe, and translations of them have been made and published in the English, the French, and the German languages. It was lately said in an article on Sanscrit literature, and the attention bestowed upon it in Germany, that there are at least two thousand men in that country who understand the Sanscrit language.

There is no prospect of this language ever again coming into vernacular use, any more than there is that the Latin will again become a vernacular language in Europe. But the connection of Sanscrit with the vernacular languages of India, and the estimation in which a knowledge of it is held, will probably always make it a branch of education in the universities and col

leges of the country, and some knowledge of it will be deemed essential to a well-educated Hindu.*

The general opinion has been that the vernacular languages of India are to considerable extent derived from the Sanscrit and founded upon it, that the latter sustains to them a relation somewhat similar to what the Latin sustains to the modern languages of Europe. Some orientalists have been of the opinion that some of the southern languages of the peninsula were original and independent languages, but that the languages of the northern and central parts were derived from the Sanscrit. But the more reasonable opinion appears to be that the present vernacular languages of India were the languages of the aboriginal inhabitants previous to the introduction of the brahminical system of religion. The sacred books of this system were in the Sanscrit, and many of its rites and ceremonies must be performed in this language. And as this system of religion, with its distinctions of caste, etc., spread over the country, carrying with it and diffusing around it a higher kind of civilization, many religious terms and other words of Sanscrit became incorporated in the vernacular languages. Thus it appears to be more reasonable to believe that the vernacular languages of India, instead of being derived from the Sanscrit and founded upon it, existed there before the Sanscrit was introduced, and that this language was superinduced upon them. Thus in the spread of the brahminical religion and the progress of civilization, many of its words, technical terms, and peculiar phrases, became incorporated with the languages previously in use.

The general opinion concerning the social state and religious character of the original inhabitants of India, and also how the brahminical system of religion was introduced, have been mentioned. The primitive inhabitants must have had a vernacular language or languages, and it is in accordance with what is known of the aboriginal tribes of America and Africa, to suppose that these languages in India were numerous and distinct. How far they were cultivated, and whether all of them were written, and what literature they had, is now unknown. The brahminical system was the religion of a nation who came from the

* Appendix B.

west, or north-west, and for considerable time occupied the north-west provinces, and the country along the Ganges. Sanscrit was the vernacular language of this nation, or these tribes,* then consisting of the brahmins, or hereditary priesthood, the kshatryas, or military class, and the vaishyas, or mercantile class. The shudras, if there was then any such class, were in a state of servitude. This invading nation, as they extended their conquests and their religion, appear to have included the people of the country in the fourth class, if there was previously any such class among them, and perhaps the fourth class was originated to include only the conquered aborigines. In the great valley of the Ganges, the brahminical system became matured, and the early and most celebrated works of Sanscrit literature were there produced. Probably its vernacular use was limited to these districts, and even there it may have been confined to the higher classes.† In the course of time the brahmins succeeded in becoming the depositories of the Vedas, and the kshatryas, and vaishyas lost their relative position in the scale of caste. Such a change would increase the power of the brahmins, and yet more restrict the use of the Sanscrit language, while it would also increase the use, and elevate the character of the vernacular languages. The brahmins, with their peculiar and generally acknowledged claims of caste, forming a numerous, learned, and united priesthood, the sole depositories and expounders of their sacred books, and alone qualified to perform any part of their mystical and complicated ritual, possessed such means and motives to propagate their

* This appears from the Institutes of Menu, making it the duty of these three classes daily to study the Vedas, which were in the Sanscrit language.

† Some of the Hindu dramas furnish evidence that the knowledge and use of the Sanscrit language was thus limited. These dramas were written to be performed before the courts of the kings and princes; all the parts spoken by the learned are in Sanscrit, but when servants and persons of low caste are introduced, they perform their parts in the vernacular language, each class thus using the language which was appropriate to the character they represented.

Some of the Purans say these castes were annihilated in a war in which Pursuram, a brahmin, was the hero. It appears more probable that they were degraded from their social or caste position in some revolution in which he acted a conspicuous part. Pursuram is considered one of the incarnations of Vishnu.

system as no other body of men ever had.

And as their system

of religion and castes became extended, carrying its new doctrines, rites, and usages with it, new words and terms would become necessary in the vernacular languages, and these would naturally be taken or transferred from the books containing the religion which the people had embraced. The progressive civilization of the people would make it necessary to enrich their languages with new words and phrases, and these would naturally be taken from the language and literature of the people with whom they were most in connection, and from whom they chiefly received and were still receiving their civilization. It is easy to see how in these ways the vernacular languages have got many Sanscrit words and phrases, and yet not be derived from, nor founded upon, that language. It appears probable that some and perhaps all the present vernacular languages of India, were in use there when the Sanscrit was carried into that country, and that the Sanscrit words, terms, and phrases they now have, were received in connection with their religion, civilization, philosophy, etc., in the same manner that barbarous nations have always borrowed largely from the languages of those nations by whom they have been Christianized and civilized.

There has been some difference of opinion in respect to the number of languages now in use, as what some orientalists reckon different languages, others call only dialects, and believe will not be perpetuated as distinct languages. The following appear to differ from each other enough to be called distinct languages, namely, the Tamul, the Canarese, the Teloogoo, the Mahratta, the Oriya or Orissa, the Bengalee, the Hindui, the Gujerattee, the Scinde, the Punjaubee, and the Hindustanee. This may appear a large number of languages to be in use in one country. But it must be remembered that India is as large in extent, and contains nearly as large a population as all Europe south of Russia and the Baltic Sea. Could we contemplate India as it was for 1000 or 1500 years previous to the Mohammedan invasion, we should see an assemblage of 10 or 12 different and independent nations, each with its own government, laws, language, literature, etc. The Mohammedans gradually extended their power over these nations till nearly all India was subject to the emperors of Delhi. The native dynasties were extin