SHANSCRIT. 



both in the roots of verbs, and in the forms of grammar, than 

 could poflibly have been produced by accident ; fo ftrong, 

 indeed, that no philologer could examine them all. three 

 without believing them to have fprung from fome common 

 fource, which, perhaps, no longer exifts. There is a fimilar 

 reafon, though not quite fo forcible, for fuppofing that 

 both the Gothic and the Celtic, though blended with a very 

 different idiom, had the fame origin with the Shanfcrit, and 

 the old Perfian might be added lo the fame family." 



The fundamental part of the Shanfcrit language is divided 

 into three clailes ; viz. dhaat, or roots of verbs, Jhuhd, or 

 original nouns, and evya, or particles. The latter are always 

 indeclinable, as in other nations ; but the words compre- 

 hended in the two former clafles muft be prepared by cer- 

 tain additions and inflexions to fit them for a place in com- 

 polition. Here the art of the grammarian interpofes, as not 

 a fyllable, nor a letter, can be added or altered but by regi- 

 men, nor the moft trifling variation of the fenfe in the minnteil 

 fubdivifion of declenfion or conjugation can be effefted with- 

 out the application of feveral rules ; and all the different forms 

 for every change of gender, number, cafe, perfon, tenfe, 

 mood or degree, are methodically arranged for the affidance 

 of the memory ; refembling, though on an infinitely more 

 extenfive fcale, the compilations of propria qux maribus and 

 as in prxfenti. 



In the Shanfcrit language, the three diftinAions of genders, 

 v/z. mafcuUne, feminine, and neuter, are preferved in their 

 common number and order. A Shanfcrit noun, in its firll 

 formation from the general root, exifts equally independent 

 of cafe as of gender. It is neither nominative, nor geni- 

 tive, nor accufative, nor is imprefled with any of thofe mo- 

 difications, which mark the relation and connexion between 

 the feveral members of a fentence. In this ftate it is called 

 an imperfeS, or crude noun. To make a nominative any noun, 

 the termination mult be changed, and a new form fupplied. 

 Thus we fee that, in the Shanfcrit at lealt, the nominative has 

 an equal right with any other inflexion to be called a cafe. 

 The Shanfcrit has feven declenfions of nouns, which are all 

 ufed in the Angular, dual, and plural number, and differently- 

 formed, as they terminate with a conionant, and with a long 

 or fhort vowel ; and alfo as they are of different genders. 

 The feven changes of inflexion are exclufive of the vocative, 

 and therefore the Shanfcrit comprehends two more than even 

 thofe of the Latin : they are as follow, w'z. i . The nomina- 

 tive, or agent in a fentence ; 2. The palFive cafe, or fubjeS oi 

 the adlion ; 3. The caufal cafe, pointing out the cauie by 

 which a thing is done ; or the inftrument -with which it is 

 done ; or the fubjeft in or by which it is fuffered ; 4. The 

 dative, with the fign to or for ; 5. The ablative, implymg 

 the fubjedl from whence any thing proceeds ; 6. Tiie pof- 

 feji-ve cafe, called by us the genitive ; 7. The locative cafe, 

 definitive of fituation, and generally known by the fign in. 

 The vocative is excluded from the number of cales, as no 

 inflexion is employed in its formation. 



The Shanfcrit, the Arabic, the Greek, and the Latin 

 verbs are furniihed with a fet of inflexions and terminations 

 fo comprchenfive, and fo complete, that by their form 

 alone they can exprefs all the different diilinftions both of 

 perfon and time. Three feparate qualities are in them per- 

 feAly blended and united. Thus by their root, they denote 

 a particular atl ; and by their inflexion, both point out the 

 time when it takes place, and number of the agents. Every 

 Shanfcrit verb has a form equivalent to the middle voice of 

 the Greek, ufed through all the tenfes with a refleftive 

 fenfe ; and the former is even the moft extenfive of the two 

 in its ufe and offices ; for in Greek the refleflive idea can 

 only be adopted intranfitively, when the aftion of the verb 

 defcends to no extraneous fubjeft ; but in Shanfcrit the 



verb is both reciprocal and tranfitive at the fame time. 

 The verb fubftantive of the Shanfciit very nearly refembles 

 thofe of the Greek and Latin ; but perhaps it would not 

 be fnfpefted that all the verbs in mi are formed exaftly 

 upon the fame principle with the Shanfcrit conjugation.', 

 even in the minutell particulars. All the terms which 

 ferve to qualify, to diftinguifh, or to augment either fub- 

 Jlance or aBion, are clafied by the Shanfcrit grammarians 

 under a head, literally fi^nifying increafe or addition. Ac- 

 cording to this arrangement, a (imple fentence confifts of 

 three numbers : the agent, the aftion, and the fubjeft j 

 which, in a grammatical fenfe, are reduced to two, vi%. 

 the noun (whether agent or fubjeft) and the verb. All 

 fuch words as tend to fpecificate or to amplify the noun, 

 are denominated by a term which fignifies adjeilives or 

 epithets ; and fuch as are applied to denote relation or con- 

 neftion, are called conneBives of nouns, and by European 

 grammarians, prepofttions : thofe particles which in any man- 

 ner affeft the verb are denominated attributes of verbs. 



The Shanfcrit alphabet contains fifty letters ; and it is 

 one boait of the Bramins, that it exceeds all other alphabets 

 in this refpeft. But vihen wc confider that of their thirty- 

 four coiifonants, nearly half are combined founds, and that 

 fix of their vowels are merely the corrcfpondent long ones 

 to as many which are fhort, the advantage feems to be little 

 more than imaginary. The Shanfcrit charafter, ufed in 

 Upper Hiiidoollan, is faid to be the fame original letter 

 tttat was firit dehvered to the people by Brihma, and is 

 called Diewnagur, or the language of angels ; whereas the 

 charafter ufed by the Bramins of Bengal is by no means fo 

 ancient, and is evidently a corruption of the former. In. 

 the four beids, or vedas, which conftitute the original and 

 facred text of the great Hindoo creator and legiflator 

 Brihma, tfie length of the vowels is expreffed by a mufical 

 note or fign placed over every word ; and in reading the 

 beids, thefe diilinftions of tone and time muft be nicely ob- 

 ferved ; fo that they produce all the effeft of a laboured 

 recitative. It is remarkable, that the Jews in their fyna- 

 gogues chant the Pentateuch in the fame kind of melody, 

 and it is fuppofed that this ufage has defcended to them 

 from the remoteft ages. Some writers have erroneoufiy 

 afterted, that the four beids are in verfe ; whereas they are 

 written in a kind of meafured profe ; and they are nowr 

 fcarcely intelligible to the motf learned pundits or lawyers ; 

 they are alfo fcarce, and difficult to be found. However, 

 comments have been written upon them from the carlielt 

 periods ; of which one of the moft ancient and approved 

 was compofed by Bifefht Mahamome, or the Moll Wife, 

 a great writer and prophet, who is faid to have lived in the 

 futtee jogue, or firll age of the world. See Halhed'g Pre- 

 face to his tranflation of the Code of Gentoo Laws, printed 

 in 1776. 



Dr. Leyden, in his account of the languages and litera- 

 ture of the Indo-Chinefe nations, (Afiatic Refearches, 

 vol. X.) has flicwn, that the " Pali," as it is generally 

 written, or " Bali" language, as it is commonly pro- 

 nounced, occupies the fame place among the Indo-Chinefe 

 nations, which Shanfcrit holds among the Hindoos, or 

 Arabic among the followers of Iflam. Throughout the 

 greater part of the maritime countries, which lie between 

 India and China, it is the language of religion, law, litera- 

 ture, and fcience, and has had an extenfive influence in 

 modifying the vernacular language of thofe regions. La 

 Loubere, on the authority of d'Herbelot, has ftatcd that 

 the ancient Perfic language was termed Pahalevi (Pahlavi), 

 and that the Perfians do not diftinguifh in writing between 

 Pahali and Bahali. P. Paulinus, however, applies this 

 term Bali inaccurately to the fquare Bali charafter, inftead 



of 



