280 Inscription in old character on the [March, 



2. Que le Prakrit altere plus le Sanskrit que ne le fait le Pali, et 

 qu'il offre en quelque sorte, le second degre d'alteration, comme le Pali 

 en est le premier et le plus immediat. — Essai sur le Pali. 15. 



The second position is quite true, and it has been fully developed in 

 a recent work (Institutiones Prakriticae) by Professor Lassen, which 

 should be in the hands of every Indian philologist. 



Constat itaque, Palicam linguam sacram esse linguam Bauddharum meridionalium, 

 id est eorum qui versus meridiem ab oris Kalingae potissimum solventes, religionis 

 Buddhaicae doctrinam primum in Taprobanen insulam transtulere, indeque in Indiana 

 ultra Gangem transecti late propagaverunt. Ista lingua a Sanscritico fonte eodem 

 prorsus modo derivata est atque Prakrita praecipua, decurtata vetustioris linguae 

 6tructura, nullis sive paene nullis adjectis novis inventis; uno tamen, ut ito dicam, 

 gradu antiquior quam scenicus sermo, ceteroquin arctissimo vinculo cum Prakrita 

 praecipua conjuncta, saepe ab ea omnino non diversa. Cujus rei in caussa nil 

 aliud fuisse potest, quam id, quod haec prius ad literarios usus accommodata fuerit 

 quam ilia. Ut dicam, quod sentiam, uno saeculo commode orta esse possunt discri- 

 mina, quibus Palica a Prakrita distinguatur. Cohaeret autem Palica lingua cum 

 emigratione Buddhaicae doctrinae in terras meridionales ; ipsa autem in India sine 

 ullo dubio nata est. Utrum statim ab initio lingua Palica usi sint Bauddhae meri- 

 diem petentes, necne, questio est satis obscura: verum enimvero, quum initia emi- 

 grationis in Taprobanem ante annos ante chr. n. 628-543 vix ponere liceat, eo aevo 

 vetustior vix erit Palicae dialecti accommodatio ad religionem Buddhae docendam ; 

 quanto junior sit illo aevo, alii, historiae hujus sectae enuncleandae operam navan- 

 tes, videant. Prakritam autem scenicam quadringentisimo ante chr- n. anno vetus- 

 tiorem vix crederem, nee tamen ultra saeculum juniorem ; nam in Mrichcbakati, 

 dramate ante chr. n. probabiliter scripto, et quidem, si traditioni Indorum fides 

 habenda sit, circa ducentesimum ante chr. n. annum, Prakriticus sermo iam utitur 

 norma prorus eadem, atque, in recentioribus fabulis ; neque ab illo tempore immu- 

 tatus est. Scenam autem ipsam si respicis, sciendum est, utrum ea ab initio varios 

 admiserit dialectos, necne, antequam ejus aetatem cum aetate dialectorum scenica- 

 rum conjungas . 



Lassen's Inst. Ling. Pracriticae. 60. 



The position assumed by M. Lassen, that the Pali of Ceylon was 

 immediately derived from the shores of Kalinga, independently of its 

 being matter of history, is supported by the evidence of the records now 

 discovered in that country. Yet it must be confessed that in some re- 

 spects there is a nearer connection with the dialect of Gujerdt : and it 

 is not unnatural to suppose that a maritime intercourse also prevailed 

 at a very early period between the western emporia of Surashtra, and 

 Tambapanni, the island so fruitful in aromatics, which would lead to 

 an intercommunion of those professing the same faith in the two coun- 

 tries. 



The vernacular language of India at that period, then, varied in diffe- 

 rent provinces : — it approached more to the Sanskrit in the northwest ; 

 diverged from it in Magadha and Kalinga : — but it was in both places 

 essentially what is now called Pdli, a word supposed to be derived from 



