er THE INDO-CHINESE NATIONS. 283 



while the Zend, or sacred language of ancient Iran^ 

 has long enjoyed a similar rank among the Parsls or 

 worshippers of fire, and hecn the depository of the 

 sacred books of Zoroastfr. It is perhaps, however, 

 more accurate to consider all the three, rather as 

 different dialects of the same derivative language, 

 than as different ianuu-iges; and conformably to this 

 idea, the Bali itself may be reckoned a dialect of 

 Prakrit. Tlie term P/ahritj both in books, and in 

 common use among the Brahmins, is em.ployed with 

 some degree of latitude. Sometimes the term is con- 

 fined to a particular dialect, employed by the JainaSj 

 as the language of religiDU and science, and appro- 

 priated to females, and respectable characters of an 

 inferior class, in dramas. Sometimes it includes 

 all t^ie dialects derived immediately from the Smis^ 

 criti whether denominated Prakrit, Magadlii, Sii- 

 rasbii, Pais'achi, ox Apdbhraris'a ; and sometimes it 

 is even extended to the Desa-b'hdshas, or popular 

 tongues of India, as Mahrdsht oy Mahratta, Canara, 

 Telinga, Udia a.nd Bengali. According to the ex- 

 tended use of the term Prakrit, it may certainly in- 

 clude; both Bali and Zend ; and if more extensive 

 research should justify the idea derived from an im- 

 perfect investigation, I apprehend that the Bali may 

 be identified with the Mdgadlii, and the Zend witli 

 the Sdrasenif of Sanscrit authors. 



These three dialects, the Prakrit, Bali, and Zendj 

 have been regularly cuKjvated and fixed by compo- 

 sition. The same laws of derivation are applica"ble 

 to the formation of all the three ; but yet there is 

 often considerable diversity in the fo^rms which par- 

 ticular words assume, as appears from the follow- 

 ing Comparative specimen. 



r 



