﻿AND PRACTIIT LANGUAGES. t^9 



The province of Gurjara * does not appear to have 

 been at any time much more extensive than the mo- 

 dern Guzj^cit, although Bralirnanas distinguished by 

 the name of that country, be no\\^ spread over the 

 adjoining provinces on both sides of the Nermadd. 

 This tribe uses a language denominated from their 

 own appellation, but very nearly allied to the Hindi 

 tongue, while the character in which it is written 

 conforms almost exactly with vulgar N/igari. Con- 

 sidering the situation of their country, and the ana- 

 logy of language and v\Titing, I cannot hesitate in 

 thinking that the Giirjaras should be considered as 

 the fifth northern nation of India, and the U'r^iyas 

 should be ranked among the tribes of the Dacshin. 



Brief and imperfect as is this account of the 

 Preterits of India, I must be still more concise in 

 speaking of the languages denominated Magadlii?i\\d 

 Apabhransa in the passages quoted at the beginning 

 of this essay. Under these names are comprehended 

 all those dialects which, together with the Frdcrits 

 above noticed, are generally known by the common 

 appellation of Bhds/id, or speech. This term, as em- 

 ployed by all philologists from Pa'n'inj down to the 

 present professors of grammar, does indeed signify 

 the popular dialect of Sanscrit, in contradistinction 

 to the obsolete dialect of the Veda ; but in common 

 acceptation, Bhcikhd (for so the word is pronounced 

 on the banks of the Ganges) denotes any of the mo- 

 dern vernacular dialects of India, especially such as 

 are corrupted from the Sanscrit: these are very nu- 

 merous. After excluding mountaineers, who are 

 probably aborigines of India, and whose languages 

 have certainly no affinity with Satiscrit, there yet re- 

 main in the mountains and islands contiguous to 

 India, many tribes that seem to be degenerate Hmdusx 



Q 3 they 



* The limits of Gurjara, as here indicated, are too narrow. It 

 seems to have been co-extensive with the antient, rather than the mo- 

 dern Guzrdty and to have included the whole, or the greatest part of 

 Candesh aad Malwa. 



