342 



ORIENTAL "LITERATURE. 



under the presidency of Silvestre de Sncy), and that 

 of London (royal Asiatic society, founded in 1820, 

 under the presidency of Colebrooke). The Paris 

 society publishes the Journal Asiatiqtie. The Lon- 

 don society has published several volumes of ex- 

 tremely valuable Transactions. The Asiatic Journal 

 is also published in London, which is useful for 

 Asiatic intelligence, but in which, however, the 

 literary articles are not generally of a very high 

 character. The Annals ot Oriental Literature, be- 

 gun some years ago in London, ceased with the 

 third volume. Similar periodicals appear in Cal- 

 cutta and Malacca. Germany has, in this depart- 

 ment, the Fundgruben der Orients (Mines of the 

 East), published at Vienna, chiefly supported by the 

 efforts of Von Hammer, and Schlegel's Indische 

 Bibliothek, published at Bonn. There are institu- 

 tions for instruction in the Oriental languages at 

 Fort William in the East Indies, at Hayleybury in 

 England (for officers in the East India company), at 

 Paris, Vienna, and Petersburg. The libraries of 

 Paris, London, Oxford, the Escurial, Rome, Gotha, 

 Vienna, Berlin, Copenhagen, Upsal, Petersburg, and 

 Constantinople, contain the richest materials in Ori- 

 ental literature. Gotha contains more Oriental manu- 

 scripts than any other German city. They were 

 collected by Seetzen, in Aleppo, Damascus, Jerusa- 

 lem, and Cairo. Petersburg possesses the richest col- 

 lection of Oriental (i. e. Mohammedan) coins, the in- 

 spector of which, Mr Frahn, is the most learned Orien- 

 tal numismatist. The collection of manuscripts, in that 

 city, has been increased by several taken during the 

 last invasion of Turkey by the Russians, and the 

 study of the Oriental languages will be greatly bene- 

 fited by the newly-established Oriental institution at 

 Petersburg, intended for the instruction of Russian 

 professors, interpreters, and diplomatic agents. The 

 members will publish an Asiatic Journal. The 

 languages to be taught are Arabian, Persian, Turk- 

 ish, Tartar, Chinese, Mantchoo, Sanscrit, Tibetan, 

 Mongolian, Calmuck, Georgian, and Armenian. Af- 

 ter a study of five years, the students will be sent to 

 the respective countries to perfect themselves. 



Some of the most important works recently pub- 

 lished in the department of Oriental literature, are as 

 follows : In Sanscrit, the ancient learned language of 

 India, great progress has been made by Wilson's 

 Sanscrit and English Dictionary (Calcutta, 1819), be- 

 fore which there was no dictionary of that language. 

 The best grammar is, as yet, that of Wilkins (Lon- 

 don, 1808). A more recent one, by Yates (Calcutta, 

 1820), has given some valuable additions on prosody 

 and grammatical terminology, but is, in other re- 

 spects, not thorough. Frank, a German, published 

 a Grammatika Sanskrita (Wurzburg, 1823) ; Bopp 

 an Ausfilhrliches Lehrgebaude der Sanskritsprache 

 (Berlin, 1825, 4to) ; Frank also published a Chresto- 

 mathie (Munich, 1820 1821). Among the Indian 

 writings published, are Nala, a romantic episode, 

 from the Mahabharata, Sanscrit, and Latin, by Bopp 

 (London, 1819); ArdschuncCs Visit to the Heaven of 

 Indra ; also an episode of the Mahabharata, Sanscrit, 

 and German, by Bopp (Berlin, 1824, 4to) ; Bhaga- 

 vadgita, a philosophical episode of the Mahabharata, 

 Sanscrit, and Latin, by Schlegel (Bonn, 1823). The 

 whole poem Ramdjana, with a Latin translation, in 

 eight vols , without the notes, has been published by 

 A. W. von Schlegel. Among the works most recently 

 published in India is the poem Mcghaduta (Messen- 

 ger of the Clouds), by Calidasa, with an English 

 translation by Wilson (Calcutta, 1813) ; the two epic 

 poems Kiratardshunija (Calcutta, 1814) and Sisu- 

 balabadha (Calcutta, 1815) ; Dajakrama Sangraha, 

 a dissertation on the Indian law of inheritance (Cal- 

 cutta, 18181. Haughton, professor at Hayleybury, 



has begun a new edition of the Code of Menu. In- 

 vestigations in the department of comparative philo- 

 logy have been presented, by Bopp, in his Conjuga- 

 tionsystem der Sanskritsprache (Frankfort, 1816'), 

 and in the Annals of Oriental Literature. Schlegel 

 has also promised an Etymologicum Novum relating 

 to the same subject. Besides the Sanscrit, the liv- 

 ing languages of India, more or less connected with 

 it, have been cultivated with great zeal by the Bri- 

 tish : for most of them we now possess excellent 

 manuals ; for instance, for the Bengalese, the Gram- 

 mar and Reader of Haughton (London. 1831) ; tin; 

 Dictionary by Carey (Serampore, 1815) ; for the 

 Hindoostanee, the Grammar by Shakespear (London, 

 1818); and the Dictionary by the same (London, 

 1820) ; for the Mahratta, the Grammar and Dic- 

 tionary by Carey (Serampore, 1808 and 1810). 

 Authors in these modern Indian languages have also 

 been printed. (See Indian Languages and Literature) 

 In the department of Chinese literature, Morrison's 

 Grammar (Serampore, 1815) ; his Chinese and Eng- 

 lish Dictionary (Macao, 18151820) ; Abel Remu- 

 sat's Siemens de la Grammaire Chinoise (Paris, 1822), 

 are works of high reputation. The Asiatic society at 

 Paris has set on foot a revision of Rodriguez's Gram- 

 mar of the Japanese. For the Tartar languages, we 

 have Remusat's Recherches sur les Langues Tar- 

 tares (Paris, 1820). Klaproth published, at Paris, a 

 Dictionary of the Mantchoo Tartar. Several Tartar 

 works have been published at Kazan, chiefly destined 

 for instruction in the Mohammedan religion ; the 

 Russian imperial chancellor, count Romanzoff, has 

 ordered the printing of the Tartar historian Abul- 

 gasi. Works in Turkish, which is a Tartar 

 language, are continually issued from the presses 

 in Scutari and Constantinople. Jaubert has pub- 

 lished a new Turkish Grammar, at Paris, but it 

 is superficial. As regards the ancient Persian, that 

 is, the Zend and Pelahvi languages, which An- 

 quetil de Perron knew but imperfectly, we may 

 expect more profound researches by means of the 

 manuscripts which Rask has carried to Copenhagen. 

 Among them are also writings in the Pali language, 

 the ancient sacred idiom of Farther India. Desatir 

 (Bombay, 1818) claims, likewise, to belong, to the 

 ancient Persian literature, but is probably of more 

 modern origin. For the modern Persian, the ori- 

 ginal dictionaries, Shems ellogat (Calcutta, 1806) 

 and Burkani Kati (Calcutta, 1808) are important. 

 The most complete grammar is that by Lumsden 

 (Calcutta, 1810, 2 vols., folio). Of the rich litera- 

 ture of this beautiful idiom, many works have been 

 published in India. The most important among the 

 latest, are the edition of the Shanameh of Ferdusi 

 (Calcutta, 1811) and the Iskendernameh of Nisami 

 (Calcutta, 1812-). Sacy has published a religious 

 poem, Pend-nameh, ou le Livre des Conseils (Paris, 

 1819). Kosegarten has published some extracts 

 from the Persian tales of Nechschebi, in the Tuti- 

 nameh (by Iken and Kosegarten, Stuttgard, 1822). 

 Goerres has given an abstract of the great historical 

 poem Shanameh, under the title Heldenbuch von 

 Iran (Berlin, 1820). We have a view of the most 

 important poets of Persia in Hammer's Geschichte 

 der Sch'dnen RedekUnste Persiens (Vienna, 1818). 

 (See Persian Language and Literature.) The study 

 of Arabic a noble, manly, rich, and cultivated 

 idiom has been much facilitated by the publication 

 of the best original Arabic dictionary, Kamus (Cal- 

 cutta, 1817). Sacy has published a new edition of 

 his Grammar and Chrestomathie (Paris, 1826, 2 vols.) 

 Kosegarten's Chrestomathia Ardbica (Leipsic, 1824) 

 contains unpublished historical and poetical selec- 

 tions, with a dictionary and grammatical explana- 

 tions. Freitag, in Bonn, is occupied with a new 



