28() ON THE LANGUAGES AND LITERATURE 



Y^santah s'aiita-chltta trisarana s'arana ihalokottareva b'huniau ab'hu» 

 maucha, d^va gunaganagrahana d'hayantah servakalam : ^te aydiitu d^va 

 varakanakama6 merurai(^ vasautah. 



Santoshahctuni miinivaravachaiiam s'rotum agr6 samagram serveshu 

 chakraval^sliu \aks!i^ devascha bramhanali. 



The Devas frequent Sivurga, Kamarupa, the mountain tops, and at- 

 mosphere, in their cars, and on earth, they visit the Z>u;zp«5, the fields, 

 cities, recesses of forests, liabitations, and sacred places. In inaccessi- 

 ble places, by land or water, the Yakshas, Gand-hcrvas and Nagas re- 

 side, in the vincity of waters. I-isten to me, ye devotees, while 1 recite 

 the words of the Munivaras : tliis is the time for hearing sacred thii)gs — 

 fthe devotees reply) Say on. (the speaker proceeds) Reverence to Bha- 

 CAVATA Arhata, the all-comprehending. Those who hear, shall be- 

 come pure of mind, and Tris A R a' shall protect them both in this and 

 other worlds : the Devas, earthly and unearthly, possessed of various 

 qualities, constantly present themselves to their thoughts, and the. Devas 

 who reside on Meru, the chief of mountains, of pure gold, frequent 

 them. In the full and perfect hearing of the words of the Munivaras, 

 the Yakshas, Devas, and Brainhanas delight above all else. 



This specimen may scive, in some degree, to iliis- 

 trate the relation which the Bali bears to its parent 

 Sanscrit. The passage is chosen at random, but con- 

 siderable portions of Bali have been subjected to the 

 same process with a similar result; and 1 am satis- 

 fied that it applies ecpially to Prakrit and Zend^ 

 though w^ords of an origin foieign to Sanscrit ^ may 

 occasionally be expected to occur in all the three 

 dialects. 



After having thus briefly stated the origin of both 

 the Bali language and written character, I should, 

 in conformity to the plan which has been followed 

 in this rapid sketch, proceed to the illustration of its 

 characteristic structure and grammatical peculiarities, 

 with the relations which it bears to Prakrit and 

 Zend; but these, with a view of Bali literature, and 

 its influence, as a learned language, on the vernacu- 

 lar Indo-Chinese tongues, I reserve for the subject of 

 another essay. 'I'he politeness and literary zeal of 

 Mr. CoLEERooKE, havc furnished me with ample fa- 

 cilities of investigating the Prakrit j in all its variety 



