148 On tie Introduction of Writing into India. [No. 2. 



In Manu's Code of Laws we read (viii. 168): "What is given 

 by force, what is by force enjoyed, by force caused to be written 

 (lekhita), and all other things done by force, Manu has pronounc- 

 ed void." Here again we have clearly writing. But this is only 

 another proof that this metrical paraphrase of the laws of the 

 Manavas is later than the Vedic age. 



In the Laws of Yajnavalkya also written documents are men- 

 tioned, and the Commentator (ii. 22) quotes Narada and other 

 authorities, all in Slokas, on several minor points connected with 

 the signing (chihnita) of papers, and the treatment of witnesses 

 who cannot write (alipijna). But I have found no such traces of 

 Written documents in any of the ancient Dharmasutras. 



The words for ink (masi* kali, inela, gold) and pen (kalama), havef 

 all a modern appearance, and as to Kdyastha, the name of writer 

 caste, proceeding from a Kshatriya father and a Sudra mother, it 

 does not even occur in Manu. 



Another class of words which would be likely to contain allusions 

 to writing are those used for the various subdivisions of literary 

 compositions ; but these too point to a literature kept up by oral 

 tradition only. "We observed before that a lecture (adhydya) con- 

 sisted of sixty questions or pras'nas. We find these very words 

 used instead of chapters and paragraphs in the Sanhitas, Brahmanas, 

 and Sutras. In the Rig-veda we have the ancient division in 

 suktas, hymns; anuvdkas, chapters {i, e. repetitions) ; and niandalas y 

 books (i. e. cycles) : and the later division in vargas, classes ; 

 adhydyas, lectures ; and Aslitakas, Ogdoads. In the Taittiriyaka, 

 the division is into Kandikds (sections), anuvdkas, pra'snas, and 

 aslitakas. In the Katliaka we have granthas, compositions, and 

 sthdnakas, loci. The name of the Satapathabhrdniana is derived 

 from its 100 pathas or walks; and ShasJitipatha is used for a work 

 consisting of isixty walks or chapters. Other words of the same 

 kind are prapdthaka, a reading, a lecture ; dhnika, a day's work; 

 parva, a joint, &c. We look in vain for such words as volumen, 

 a volume, liber, i. e. the inner bark of a tree ; or /3i/3Aos, i. e. fivfiXos, 

 the inner bark of the papyrus ; or book, i. e. beech- wood. 



* Lalita Vistara, adhyaya, ix. p. 139, 1. 17. 



f Unadi-sutras, iv. 84. calamus, reed. 



