THE MAIN PROBLEMS IN THE FIELD OF INDIAN 

 LANGUAGES 



BY ARTHUR ANTHONY MACDONELL 



[Arthur Anthony Macdonell, Boden Professor of Sanskrit, University of Oxford, 

 and Fellow of Balliol College, b. May, 1854, Mozaffarpur, Bengal, India. M.A. 

 Oxford, 1883; Ph.D. Leipzig, 1884. Taylorian Teacher of German, Oxford 

 University, 1880-99; Deputy Professor of Sanskrit, ibid. 1888-99. Member of 

 German Oriental Society, Royal Asiatic Society, Great Britain and Ireland, 

 Oxford Philological Society; Oxford University Scholar in German, 1876; in 

 Chinese, 1877; in Sanskrit, 1878; Chairman of the Board of Oriental Studies, 

 Oxford University, 1903-05. Author of Sanskrit Dictionary; Sanskrit Grammar; 

 Vedic Mythology ; History of Sanskrit Literature ; editions of the Sarvanukramani 

 and the Brhaddevata, etc.] 



WHEN about to present a survey of the main problems which 

 await solution in my subject, the sacred .and classical language 

 of India in connection with its descendants, the first thought which 

 occurs to me is that few realize how large a section of the science of 

 man it covers and how important a part it has played in the history 

 of civilization. Most people know little further than that Sanskrit is 

 now studied not only in India but in all the more advanced countries 

 of Europe and in America. Thus there are now at least four pro- 

 fessors of Sanskrit in the United States ancl about twenty-five in 

 German universities. There is already at least one in Japan, where 

 the subject is beginning to be pretty widely studied. Beyond the 

 small circle of the initiated, few are, however, really aware that 

 Sanskrit is the key to the languages and civilization of nearly three 

 hundred million people in India, that it is, directly or indirectly, 

 through ancient daughter dialects, the vehicle of the religions of nearly 

 the whole of that vast population; and that, chiefly through Buddhism, 

 it has influenced not only the religion, but even to some extent the 

 laws and customs, of some four hundred millions of the human race 

 beyond the limits of India. It has thus been instrumental in raising 

 to a higher level the civilization of nearly one half of the human 

 race. In fact, what Greece and Rome did for the West, ancient 

 India may be said to have done for the farther East. The civiliza- 

 tion which it diffused was, though less advanced, distinguished by 

 much originality, profound thought, and deep morality, and that 

 diffusion what has been so rare in the history of the world was 

 a conquest of peace and not of the sword, a conquest made solely by 

 the influence of literature, religion, and art. Sanskrit literature 

 and science have had a considerable influence even on the West, - 

 in the Middle Ages, for example, through the migration of Indian 

 fables and fairy tales, but especially through the introduction of 



