SHANSCRIT. 



with Shanfcrit letters, and mottly contain allulions to the old 

 Shanfcrit mythology : the fame conformity is alfo obferv- 

 able in the impreflions of feals from Bootan and Thibet. 

 Befides, the arrangement of the Shanfcrit alphabet is very 

 different from that of any other quarter of the world. 

 This extraordinary mode of combination ftill exills in the 

 greateft part of the Eaft, from the Indus to Pegu, in dialefts 

 now apparently unconneiSed, and in charafters completely 

 dilBmilar ; and affords a forcible argument that they are 

 iiU derived from the fame fource. Moreover, the names of 

 perfons and places, of titles and dignities, which are open to 

 general notice, and which are found even to the furtheft 

 limits of Afia, prefent manifeil traces of tlie Shanfcrit. 

 Another circuraftance deferves to be mentioned, and that is, 

 that the raja of Kifhenagur, a very learned and able anti- 

 quary of Bengal, affirmed, that he had in his own poffeffion 

 books which give an account of a communication formerly 

 fubfilling between India and Egypt, in which the Egyptians 

 are defcribed as difciples, and not as inllruftors ; and as 

 feeking that liberal education and thofe Iciences at Hin- 

 dooftan, which none of their own countrymen had fufficient 

 knowledge to impart. But though thefe feveral proofs of 

 the former prevalence of the Shanfcrit are now thinly fcat- 

 tered over an immenfe continent, and interfperfed with an 

 infinite variety of extraneous matter, arifing from every 

 podible revolution in the manners and principles of the 

 nations who have by turns cultivated or deilroyed it ; that 

 part of Afia, between the Indus and the Ganges, ftill pre- 

 ferves the whole language pure and inviolate ; ftill offers a 

 thoufand books to the perufal of the curious, many of 

 which have been religioufly handed down from the earlieft 

 periods of human exiftence. 



H. T. Colebrooke, efq. has given us in the Afiatic Re- 

 fearches (vol. vii. p. 199, &c.), a literal tranflation of two 

 paflages cited from a treatile on rlietoric, compiled for the 

 life of Manicya Chandra, raja of Tirabhufti, or Tirhut, in 

 which are enumerated the languages ufed by Hindoo poets. 

 The firft is as follows : " Sanfcrita, Pracrita, Paifachi, 

 and Magad'hi, are in fhort the four paths of poetry. The 

 gods, &c. fpeak Sanfcrita ; benevolent genii, Pracrita ; 

 wicked daemons, Paifachi ; and men of low tribes and the 

 reft, Magad'hi. But fages deem Sanfcrita the chief of 

 thefe four languages. It is ufed three ways ; in profe, in 

 verfe, and in a mixture of both." Again, " Language, 

 the virtuous have declared to be fourfold, Sanfcrita, or 

 the polifhed dialeft ; Pracrita, or the vulgar dialeft ; 

 Apabhranfa, or jargon ; and Mifra, or mixed. Sanfcrita 

 is the fpeech of the celeltials, framed in grammatical in- 

 lUtutes ; Pracrita is fimilar to it, but manifold as a pro- 

 vincial dialed, and otherwife ; and thofe languages which 

 are ungrammatical, are fpoken in their refpedlive diftridls." 

 Tlie Paifachi, fays Mr. Colebrooke, feems to be gibberifh, 

 which dramatic poets make the daemons fpeak, when they 

 bring thefe fantaftic beings on the ttage. The mixture of 

 languages, noticed in the fecond quotation, is that which 

 is employed in dramas, as is exprefsly faid by the fame 

 author in a fubfequent verfe. It is not then a compound 

 language, but a mixed dialogue, in which different perfons 

 of the drama employ different idioms. Both the paffages 

 above quoted are therefore eafily reconciled. They, in 

 faft, notice only three tongues, i. Shanfcrit, a polifhed 

 dialeft, the inflexions of which, with all its numerous 

 anomalies, are taught in grammatical inftitutes. This the 

 dramatic poets put into the mouths of gods and of holy per- 

 fonages. 2. Pracrit, confifting of provincial dialefts, which 

 are lefi refined, and have a more imperfect grammar. In 

 dramas it is fpoken by women, benevolent genii, &c. 

 j6 



3. Magad'hi, or Apabhranfa, a jargon deftitute of regular 

 grammar. It is ufed by the vulgar, and varies in different 

 diftrifts : the poets accordingly introduce into the dialogue 

 of plays a provincial jargon, fpoken by the loweft perfons 

 of the drama. 



Sanfcrita is the paflive particle of a compound verb, 

 formed by prefixing the prepofition fam to the crude verb 

 cri, and by interpofing the letter s, when this compound 

 is ufed in the fenfe of embcllifhment. Its literal meaning 

 then is " adorned ;" and when applied to a language, it 

 fignifies " poliflied." Pracrita is a fimilar derivative from 

 the fame crude verb, with pra prefixed : the molt common 

 acceptation of this word is " outcail, or man of the loweft 

 clafs :" as applied to a language, it fignifies " vulgar." 

 Apabhranfa is derived from bhras, to fall down : it fignifies 

 a word, or dialeft, which falls off from correft etymology. 

 Grammarians ufe the Sanfcrita as fignifying " duly formed 

 or regularly inflefted ;" and Apabhranfa far falfe grammar. 



The languages of India are all comprehended in thefe 

 three claffes. The firft contains Shanfcrit, a moft polifhed 

 tongue, which was gradually refined until it became fixed 

 in the claflic xvritings of many elegant poets, moft of whom 

 are fuppofed to have flourifhed in the century preceding 

 the Cliriflian era. It is cultivated by learned Hindoos 

 throughout India, as the language of icience and of litera- 

 ture, and as the repofitory of their law, civil and religious. 

 It evidently draws its origin (and fome fteps of its pro- 

 grefs may even now be traced) from a primeval tongue, 

 which was gradually refined in various climates, and be- 

 came Shanfcrit in India ; Pahlavi in Perfia ; and Greek on 

 the fhores of the Mediterranean. Like other very ancient 

 languages, Shanfcrit abounds in inflexions, which are, how- 

 ever, more anomalous in this, than in tlie other languages 

 here alluded to ; and which are even more fo in the obfolete 

 dialeft of the Vedas, than in the polifhed fpeech of the 

 claflic poets. It has nearly fhared the fate of all ancient 

 tongues, and is now become almoft a dead language ; but 

 there feems no good reafon for doubting, that it was once 

 univerfally fpoken in India. Its name, and the reputed dif- 

 ficulty of its grammar, have led many perfons to imagine, 

 that it has been refined by the concerted efforts of a few 

 priefts, who fet themfelves about inventing a new language; 

 not like all other tongues, oy the gradually improved praftice 

 of good writers and polite fpeakers. The exquifitely re- 

 fined fyitem by which the grammar of Shanfcrit is taught, 

 has been miftaken for the refinement of the language itfelf. 

 The rules have been Tuppofed to be anterior to the prac- 

 tice, but this fuppofition is gratuitous. In Shanfcrit, as in 

 every other known tongue, grammarians have not invented 

 etymology, but ha've only contrived rules to teach what was 

 already effabhfhed by approved praftice. 



There is one peculiarity of Shanfcrit compofitions which 

 may alfo have fuggefted the opinion, that it could never be a 

 fpoken language. Mr. Colebrooke alludes to what might be 

 termed the euphonical orthography of Shanfcrit. It confifts 

 in extending to fyntax the rules for the permutation of let- 

 ters in etymology. Similar rules for avoiding incompatible 

 founds in compound terms exift in all languages ; this is 

 fometimes effefted by a deviation from orthography in the 

 pronunciatiori of words, fometimes by altering one or more 

 letters to make the fpelling correfpond with the pronunci- 

 ation. Thefe rules have been more profoundly invefligated 

 by Hindoo grammarians than by thofe of any other nation, 

 and they have completed a fyftem of orthography, which 

 may be juftly termed euphonical. They require all com- 

 pound terms to be reduced to this ftandard, and Shanfcrit 

 authors, it may be obferved, delight in compounds of in- 

 ordinate 



