SINHALESE LANGUAGE. 



147 



sixty years, relative to the antiquities of India, in speaking of the 

 languages of the Dekkan viz. the Tulva, the Malabar, the Tamil 

 the Telugu, the Karnata, anol the Sinhalese, sums up their rela- 

 tions to the Sanskrit as follows: — 



'A more critical investigation of the languages of the Dekkan 

 has shown that they have been enriched from the Sanskrit, but are 

 quite independent of it as to their origin. Their phonetic system 

 is distinct, and so is the fundamental part of their vocabularies, em- 

 bracing the words in most common use ; and farther, what is deci- 

 sive, their grammatical structure is peculiar. With this philolo- 

 gical fact accord the traditions of the Dekkan, indicating, as they 

 do, that the Dekkanese were originally in a rude state, and that 

 settlers from the North brought to them their civilization. The 

 traditions of the continent agree here with those of the island of 

 Ceylon, and the phenomena of the religious and political state of 

 the Dekkan, at the present time, establish the fact of its having 

 received its civilization from that source. Its alphabets, also, came 

 from the North. Yet, certain peculiarities are likewise found, which, 

 not being referable to Ary a teachers, must be considered as remains 

 of usages properly belonging to the South-Country. Nor has the 

 civilization brought from the North penetrated every where: many 

 tribes are met with in the Dekkan, which have adopted only a part, 

 sometimes more, and sometimes less, of the imported culture; one 

 indeed, that of the Tuda on the Nilgiri, had, until within a short 

 time, received no such civilizing influence.* 9 



With all the respect due to so distinguished an orientalist as 

 Pr. Lassen, I cannot but regard his remarks, so far as they relate 

 to the Sinhalese, as inapplicable, and therefore inconsiderate. 



It is quite true that the Sanskrit element, by which I mean the 

 use of sibilants, aspirates, double letters etc. in the modern Sin- 

 halese, cannot be traced to our ancient dialect; and that these have 

 been engrafted on the Sinhalese in comparatively modern times.f 



* S. Ind: Altenth. p. 363. 



t Seethe history of the Sinhalese language in my Introd: to the Siclat- 

 sangara p. clxxxvii. et seq, 



