142 On the Introduction of Writing into India. [No. 2. 



the high accent.* It does not seem as if several pupils were allowed 

 to recite together, for it is stated distinctly that the Guru first tells 

 the verses to his pupil on the right, and that every pupil after his 

 task is finished, turns to the right, and walks round the tutor. This 

 must occupy a long time every day, considering that a lecture 

 consists of sixty and more pras'nas, or of about 180 verses. The 

 pupils are not dismissed till the lecture is finished. At the end 

 of the lecture, the tutor, after the last half-verse is finished, says, 

 11 Sir," the pupil replies, " Yes, Sir." He then repeats the proper 

 verses and formulas, which have to be repeated at the end of every 

 reading, embraces his tutor, and is allowed to withdraw. 



These rules speak for themselves. They show that at the time 

 when such rules were necessary, and when young Brahmans had 

 to spend from twelve to forty-eight years of their lifef in doing 

 nothing but learning and rehearsing the Veda, such a system must 

 have had an object worthy of such efforts. Such an object existed, 

 if, in the absence of writing, the sacred songs, which were believed 

 to be the only means to salvation were to be preserved and guard- 

 ed against loss and corruption. If, at the time of the Pratis'akhyas, 

 writing had been known, some mention of a book as a sacred object 

 would surely have occurred somewhere. We know from the 

 Grihyasutras every event in the life of a Brahman, from his birth 

 to his death. Not a word is ever said about his learning to write. 



The earliest allusion to this system of oral teaching occurs in a 

 hymn of the Rig-veda which must be ascribed to the Mantra 

 period. In the primitive poetry of the Chhandas period there is 

 no mention either of writing or teaching. But in a satirieal 

 bymn of the Yasishthas (vii. 103. 5.), in which the frogs are 



* According to some S akhas, not the S akhalas, certain words (prepositions) are, 

 in this final recitation also, to be followed by the particle ibi ; ablii is even, in some 

 cases, to be prounced abhityabhi. Some other rules are given, all of which are 

 optional. The text of the Yeda, as repeated in the lecture room, is neither San- 

 hita, Pada, nor Krama-text. Some few Sakhas only maintain that the Sauhita text 

 should be used pure et simple. 



f Caesar (do Bello Gallico, vi. 14.), speaking of the Druids, says: "Magnum ibi 

 numerum versuum ediscere dicuntur, itaque nonnulli annos vicenos in disciplina 

 permanent, ncque fas esse existimant ea Uteris mandare." 



