144 



AN ESSAY ON THE OXUGIN OF THE 



When more than forty years ago B-ask wrote, the greatest mis- 

 apprehension prevailed amongst Europeans on all Oriental subjects. 

 Eastern Languages were not extensively cultivated, A gloom 

 enveloped the science of comparative philology. Inaccessible was 

 the path to eastern history. Even the Sanskrit, the language in 

 the highest state of cultivation now-a-days, was then but imper- 

 fectly known to the European world. Some considered it a deri- 

 vative of the Zend, and others treated it as a creature of the Pali. 

 Little, if any thing, was definitely investigated of. the latter. 

 The relation which the Sanskrit bore to the Pr akrit, was very im- 

 perfectly investigated; and was, at the time Wilson translated Vik- 

 rama and Urvasi, 'far from being understood'; and, when the la- 

 bours of Lassen and Burnouf brought to light the Nepal books of 

 Buddhism, even the names of their Pali versions were unknown 

 in Europe. The distinction between the Arian and the Dekka- 

 nese groups of languages was not well ascertained. The Tamil 

 was supposed to have been an off-shoot of the Sanskrit. The An- 

 dhra merely existed as a book name. Between it and the Dravi- 

 da no relationship was established ; much less was the identity of 

 Dravida and Damila recognized. The Sinhalese was not known 

 in Europe. Nor was it cultivated by the English in Ceylon until 

 after the annexation of the Kandian Kingdom (in 1815) to 

 the possessions of the British Government. Even then little was 

 ascertained of the Sinhala by a careful inter-comparison of 

 south-Indian dialects ; — less, was known of the various modifica- 

 tions which the former had undergone ; — and least of all regarding 

 its history for upwards of two thousand years. True it is indeed 

 that Mr. Chater published a Sinhalese grammar in 1815; yet this 

 led to no important results in poin t of philological researches. The 

 language adopted in it was the bastard Sinhalese of the fourteenth Cen- 

 tury. It was the language of the paraphrases —the Sanskrit, if I m ay 

 so call it, Sinhalicised. When, therefore, Clough published his 

 Dictionary fifteen years afterwards, he was led away with the belief 



* Speigel's Kammavacha.— Intro: p. i. 



