376 ANTIQUITY OF V/RITINO. 



other, and the general annlo.y which they all boar to the grand 

 prototype. iifFords another ample field for curiosity. 



That coins of Assam, N,I. ;ml, ( n-hmiria, and many other king, 

 doms, are all stamp) with Shunscrit letters, and mostly contain al- 

 lusions to the old Mia<iacrit mythology. Tlie same conformity I 

 have observed on the impressions of seals from Bootan and Thibet." 

 That part of Asia between the Indus and the Ganges, still pre- 

 serves the Shanscrit language pure and inviolate, and oilers a great 

 number of books to the perusal of (he curious, many of which have 

 been religiously handed down from the earliest period ol their ci- 

 vilization. 



There are seven different sorts of Indian hand writings, all com. 

 prised under the general term of Naagoree, which may be inter- 

 preted writing. The elegant Shanscrit is stiled Daeb iiaa^oree, or 

 the writing of the immortals*; which may not improhab'y be a 

 refinement from the more simple Naanoree of the earliest ages. The 

 Bengal letters are another branch of the same stock. The Ben_;;u 

 lese Bramins have al their iShanscrit books copied in this national 

 alphabet ; and they transpose into them all the Daeb-naagoree 

 MSS. for their own perusal. The dialect called by us the Moorish, 

 is that species of Hindostanic which owes its existence to the Ma- 

 hometan conquests. 



There are about seven hundred radical words in the Shanscrit 

 language ; the fundamental part of which is divided into three 

 classes. 



First, Dhaat or roots of verbs. 



S<cond, Shubd or orgimil nouns. 



Third, Evya or particles. 



The Shanscrit alphabet contains fifty letters ; viz. thirty. four 

 consonants, and sixteen vowels. The Indian Bramins contend, 

 that they had letters before any other people ; and Mr. Halhed 

 observes, that sufficient grounds still exist for conjecturing, that 

 Kgjpt has but a disputable claim to its long boasted originality in 

 civilization. The present learned Rajah of Kishinagur affirms, 

 that he has in his possession Shanscrit books, where the Kgyptians 

 are constantly described as disciples, not -as instructors, and as 

 seeking that liberal duration, and those sciences in Ilindostan, 

 which none of their own countrymen had sufficient knowledge to 



Tht Braniinisaj, leitm wrre of divine original. 



