58 



INDIA (LITERATURE.; 



Gaur. This b tn Bengalee or Bengnl dialect, 

 which is spoken chiefly in the eastern parts of II in. 

 tloostan. Many Sanscrit i>oems have been trans- 

 fated into this dialect; the learned Hindoos speak 

 it almost exclusively. Its characters are the Devan- 

 agari, somewhat altered, for convenience. 4. The 

 Mitilaw, or Tirhoot, is the prevalent dialect in Miti- 

 law, or the Circar (Circle) of Tirhoot and some 

 neighbouring districts, bounded by the rivers Cusi 

 and Gandhac and the Nepaul mountains. It is not 

 adapted to poetry. 5. The dialect of Utcala or 

 Odradesa (Orissa) is called Uriya, and has Sanscrit 

 words. The five above-named dialects are the lan- 

 guages of the five Gaurs, or of Northern Hindoostan. 

 The five following are those of the five Dravirs, and 

 are called Tamvl. They are 6. the Dravida, the 

 southern extremity of the Deccan, where the Tamul, 

 called also by the Europeans Malabar (though the 

 former is rather the eastern dialect, the latter the 

 western) is spoken; the former is spoken from cape 

 Comorin under the Eastern Ghauts northwardly as 

 far as Pullicate, the latter from cape Comorin, as far 

 as Goa; they meet at the cape of Coimbetore. The 

 gospel is preached by Christian missionaries at Ma- 

 dras, Tranquebar, and Tanjore, in the Tamul. Zie- 

 genbalg translated the Bible into it. The name 

 Tamul, as the natives pronounce it, is probably con- 

 nected with the river Tamraparni. 7. The Maharash- 

 tra, or Mahratta, is spoken on the northern part of 

 the plateau of the Deccan, eastward of the highlands 

 of 'Omercuntuk. Muru, as this country, situated 

 between the Nerbudda and the Krishna, was for- 

 merly called, was the centre of the Dravirs, whose 

 capital, Dwara Summadra, was destroyed in 1326. 

 This dialect is written with the Devanagari, and 

 has, likewise, many Sanscrit words. A grammar 

 and dictionary were published by Carey, in 1809. 8. 

 Carnata, or Carnara, by corruption Canara, in the 

 middle of the plateau of Mysore, consequently in the 

 middle of the Deccan. It is still spoken in the 

 mountainous regions, but on the eastern coast has 

 been supplanted by other dialects. 9. Tailanga, 

 Telinga, or Tilanga, also the Andray, the language 

 of a people in the north-east of the peninsula, be- 

 tween the Krishna river and Godavery, as far as the 

 northern Circars, and reaching southward to Pulli- 

 cate. It has much resemblance to the Sanscrit, and 

 lias a separate alphabet, called Calanga. 10. The 

 dialect of Gurjara or Guzerat, Gezira, a peninsula in 

 the west, is the last dialect of the Pracrit. A dic- 

 tionary of it has been compiled by Drummond. 



III. The Paisachi, or Apadhransa, probably the 

 language of the mountaineers, in dramatic poetry is 

 the language of demons, a jargon mixed with San- 

 scrit, and therefore the language of ridicule. 



IV. The Magadhi, or Misra, probably the Pali 

 and Magadhi of the island of Ceylon, used by the 

 priests of Buddha. It is called Misra, because it is 

 intermingled with Sanscrit words. It also generally 

 designates the foreign languages, introduced by the 

 conquerors of the countries on the Indus and Ganges, 

 especially those of the Indo-Chinese. Doctor Ley- 

 den thought to have discovered in it many original 

 languages, which might, indeed, have had a common 

 foundation (according to Vater, the Chinese). The 

 foundation of this system of languages is monosylla- 

 bic, and, as in the Chinese, the different intonations 

 determine the meaning. Those of the islanders are 

 polysyllabic, those of the mainland monosyllabic. 

 The monosyllabic disappears near Bengal. To the 

 east, it is more common, and prevails exclusively in 

 Cochin-China and Tonquin. They are given in the 

 following order: 1. Polysyllabic; a. Malay; b. Ja- 

 vanese; ?. Bugis; d. Bima; e. Batta; /. Gala, or 

 Tagala. 2. The monosyllabic; g. Rukheng; A. 



Banna; t. Mon; k. Thay; /. Khohmen; m. Law; 

 . Amnn. Sir W. Jones first perceived the Sanscrit 

 in the language of the Malays, though it is not the 

 only basis, but is joined with a foreign element. In 

 it are written the tales of the Pandus, taken from 

 the old Sanscrit epic Maliabhanit. A grammar and 

 dictionary of it were published by W. Marsden. 

 There is another dictionary by James Howson. The 

 Javanese resembles the Malay very much. Doctor 

 Leyden considered the Pali or Bali a dialect of it, 

 which may be, perhaps, a language common to all 

 the countries between the eastern and western boun- 

 daries, the language of their holy books, of their 

 priests, scholars, and poets. The Rukheng in Ar- 

 racan, to the west, is said to bear much resemblance 

 to the Devanagari in its characters, and to the San- 

 scrit in its structure and mythology. The Barma is 

 softer but less articulate than the Rukheng, but it is 

 very perfect, and has a rich literature. The Mon is 

 still prevalent among the inhabitants of Pegu, who 

 style themselves Mon, but are called by the Barambs, 

 Talcing, and by the Siamese, Ming-Mon. Their 

 alphabet is the Barma-Bali alphabet a little altered. 

 Thay is the language of the Siamese. The Barmas 

 call the country Syan, whence, probably, the Portu- 

 guese Siam. The Khohmen is the language of a 

 nation on the Mecon or the Cambodia, which is re- 

 garded as very learned, and was formerly subjected 

 by the Siamese tribe. The Law is the language of 

 the people called by the Portuguese Laos. According 

 to Leyden, it stands in the same relation to the Thay, 

 that the Barma does to the Rukheng, though it 

 bears a closer affinity to the common Bali. In this 

 central country of Laos are the most remarkable 

 monuments of Buddaism; and probably it will here- 

 after afford, on this point, much information. As the 

 Sanscrit is the common centre of the Hindoo lan- 

 guages, so is the Bali of the Indo-Chinese. In the 

 country between India and China, it is the language 

 of religion, of the law, of science and literature, and 

 appears in all the languages of the people. It is 

 also called Lankabasa, i. e. the language (in Greek 

 Bf) of Lanka, or Ceylon and Megata, or Mun- 

 gata, perhaps analogous to the Sanscrit Magadhi. 

 The Bali alphabet had its rise in the Devanagari, but 

 differs essentially from it. The form of the Bali 

 character among the Barmas, is quadrangular, very 

 much as in Lanka, but different from the Siamese, 

 which is called Nungsu-Khom. It lias all the San- 

 scrit inflexions of verbs and nouns, though it more 

 rarely uses them in connexion, and more frequently 

 uses the past participle and impersonal verbs. Thus 

 the Pracrit, Bali, and Zend, as Sir W . Jones very 

 acutely observed, again come into affinity, as three 

 dialects of the Sanscrit. They have had very much 

 the same fate. Pracrit is the language of most of 

 the holy books of the Jaina sect ; Bali is the sacred 

 language of the Buddhists ; Zend of the Parsees, or 

 fire worshippers. A wide and deep survey of the 

 whole variety of Indian language, primitive, mother, 

 and mixed, would afford the most interesting infor- 

 mation respecting the philosophy of language and 

 religion. 



Indian Literature. Europe still lay in the 

 deepest slumber, when Hindoostan was already in 

 possession of art and science. A thousand years 

 before Christ, a tender and imaginative poetry existed 

 there, and the immense rock on which her mythology 

 is sculptured, is a work, in comparison with which 

 the pyramids of Egypt seem young. The astrono- 

 mical knowledge of India, existing oefore the period 

 to which history extends, the antiquity ascribed to 

 the alphabet, the language, the religious tradition?, 

 handed down by means of pictures and writings 

 all point to a development of the human intellect 



