688 Note on the language of Buddhist Scriptures. [Aug. 



** In reference to your and Mr. Turnour's opinion that the origi- 

 nal records of the Buddhists in ancient India, were written in the 

 Mdgadhi dialect, I beg leave to add in support of it, that in the index 

 or register (t;*qX T &£l dkar-chhag) of the Kahgyur, it is stated that 

 the Sutras in general — i. e. all the works in the Kahgyur except the 2 1 

 volumes of the Sher-chhin and the 22 volumes of the rGyud §^ class, 

 after the death of Shakya, were first written in the Sindhu language 

 and the Sher-chhin and rGyud in the Sanskrit : but part of the rGyud 

 also in several other corrupt dialects. It is probable that in the 

 seventh century and afterwards, the ancient Buddhistic religion was 

 remodelled and generally written in Sanskrit, before the Tibetans 

 commenced its introduction by translation into their own country." 



This explanation, so simple and so authentic, ought to set the mat- 

 ter at rest, and that in the manner that the advocates of either view 

 should most desire, for it shews that both are right ! — It is generally 

 allowed that the Pali and the Zend are derivatives of nearly the same 

 grade from the Sanskrit stock ; and the modern dialect of Sinde as 

 well as the Bhdshd of upper and western India present more striking 

 analogies to the Pall, in the removal particularly of the r, and the mo- 

 dification of the auxiliary verbs, than any of the dialects of Bengal, 

 Behar, or Ceylon*. Plausible grounds for the existence of this western 

 dialect in the heart of Magadha, and the preference given it in writings 

 of the period, may be found in the origin of the ruling dynasty of 

 that province, which had confessedly proceeded from the north-west. 

 At any rate those of the Sdkya race, which had emigrated from 

 Sinde to Kapila vastu (somewhere in the Gangetic valley) may have 

 preserved the idiom of this native province and have caused it to prevail 

 along with the religion which was promulgated through its means. 



We are by no means of opinion that the Hindi, Sindhi, or Pali 

 had an independent origin prior to the Sanskrit. The more the first of 

 these, which is the most modern form and the farthest removed from 

 the classical language, is examined and analyzed, the more evident- 

 ly is its modification and corruption from the ancient stock found 

 to follow systematic rules, and to evince rather provincial dialectism 

 (if I may use the word) than the mere engraftment of foreign words 

 upon a pre-existent and written language. The aboriginal terms of 



tures of Bhilsa, with a full volume of the life of Sha'kya in our hand. Similar 

 paintings are common in Ava, and an amusing, but rather apocryphal, series may 

 be seen in Upham's folio history of Buddhism, 



* See the Rev. Dr. Mill's note on this subject in the J. A. S. Vol. V. p. 30 ; 

 also Professor Wilson's remarks, Vol. I. page 8. 



