﻿AND PRACUIT LANGUAGES. 22? 



missionaries at IMaclras, I can venture to pronounce 

 that the Tamla contains many Samcnt words, either 

 unaltered or httle changed, with others more cor- 

 rupted, and a still greater num!)er of doubtful origin. 



The Maharashtra or Mahratta is the language of 

 ft nation which has in the present century greatly 

 enlarged its antient limits. If any inference may be 

 flrawn from the name of the character in which the 

 language is writren, the coimtry occupied by fhis 

 people was formerly called Mara *; for tlie peculiar 

 corruption o{' t\vd Devanagarl, which is employed by 

 the MaharasU tras in common transactions, is deno- 

 minated by them Mur. Their books, it must be re- 

 marked, are commonly written in Devanagari. The 

 Mahratta nation was formerly confined to a moun- 

 tainous tract situated south of the river Nermada^ 

 and extending to the province of Cocdn. Their lan- 

 guage is now more widely spread, but is not yet be- 

 come the vernacular dialect of provinces situated far 

 beyond the antient bounds of their country. Like 

 other Indian tongues, it contains much pure Sanscrit, 

 and more corrnptions of that language intermixed 

 with words borrowed from Persian and Arabick, and 

 v.ith others derived from an unknown source. If 

 the bards of Mdru were once famous, their supposed 

 successors, though less celebrated, are not less dili- 

 gent. The Mahrdttas possess-many j)oems in their 

 own dialect, either translated from the Sanscrit, or 

 original compositions in honour of Ckisuna, Rama, 

 and other deified heroes. Treatises in prose too, on 

 subjects of logick and of philosophy, have been com- 

 posed in the Mali rat ta dialect. 



Carnat'a, or Cdrnara, is the antient language 

 o^ Carndtaca, a province which has given name to 

 districts on i^oth coasts of the peninsula. This dia- 



Q 2 ' lect 



* Mentioned in the royal grant preserved at a famous temple in 

 Cqrnat'a. See As. Res. h;. Ill, /. 4 8. However, the Mahrdttas 

 themselves affirm, that the Murti charncter was introduced amongst 

 fliem from the iHand of Siidn, 



