PROBLEMS IN INDIAN LANGUAGES 117 



It is well known that Sanskrit has continued to be written and 

 spoken by the Brahmans from Panini's time down to the present 

 day. The grammar has, of course, remained unchanged; but the 

 construction and style have been to some extent modified, while 

 many words have been borrowed from the Sanskritic vernaculars, 

 some even from the aboriginal dialects. The problem as to the extent 

 of such influences on the Sanskrit both of the earlier and later period 

 has yet to be treated as a whole. 



This brings us to the daughters of Sanskrit, the Prakrits, or ver- 

 naculars, which have been spoken in India from Vedic times down 

 to the present day. Three main stages can be distinguished in their 

 history. The ancient Prakrits may be regarded as coming down to 

 about the beginning of our era, the medieval Prakrits to about 

 1000 A.D., and the modern Prakrits down to the present day. There 

 is evidence to show that, even as early as the time of the Vedas, 

 vernaculars derived from the earliest form of Vedic language existed, 

 since borrowed words of the Prakrit type are to be found in the 

 Vedas, though not to the same extent as in later Sanskrit. The ex- 

 act extent to which vernacular words have been introduced into the 

 Vedic vocabulary has yet to be examined. We know that in the 

 sixth century B.C. Buddha preached his doctrine in a vernacular 

 dialect because the masses were no longer able to understand San- 

 skrit. We also know that the form of ancient Prakrit called Pali 

 was introduced into Ceylon along with Buddhism in the third century 

 B.C., and has ever since remained the sacred language of the southern 

 or purest form of Buddhism. It is a striking testimony to the anti- 

 quity of Sanskrit that a daughter language should have been thus 

 stereotyped long before the beginning of our era. 



The literature of Pali is both extensive and important; more 

 important in some respects even than that of Sanskrit. For it em- 

 braces in their purest tradition the doctrines of Buddhism, a religion 

 which has been so potent an engine of civilization in countries beyond 

 the limits of India. It contains, moreover, a large amount of material 

 capable of shedding light on the social history of India during the 

 early centuries of our era, in a way which Sanskrit literature cannot 

 do. As the earliest recorded literary daughter of Sanskrit, it occupies 

 a position second only to the parent tongue in the linguistic history of 

 India. By the devoted labors of a very few scholars, a surprising 

 amount of work has already been done in the editing and translating 

 of Pali texts, in utilizing the matter contained in them as appears 

 from such works as Professor Oldenberg's Buddha and Rhys Davids' 

 Buddhistic India, as well as in pioneering linguistic studies. But 

 vastly more still remains to be done. Many texts have yet to be 

 edited, others must be re-edited in a form better adapted to the 

 advancement of scholarship. Many important Pali works have yet 



