116 



An Essay on Early Relations 



[No. 37, 



derived from the Pali. More directly to our present, object, ho 

 observes 4 the Menang kabow race, who seem at an early period 

 ■ to have ruled the whole Island of Sumatra, whose chief assumes 

 4 the name of Maka raja of rajas, and derives his origin from Lanka 

 4 pura, speak a dialect of the Malaya, which difFers considerably 

 1 from that of the Peninsula ; but which seems, as far as I can 



* judge, to coincide, in many respects, with the Java or Javanese 



* language.' Further on ■ the connection between the Sanscrit 

 1 and Malaya was first remarked by Sir W. Jones ; and Mr. Mars- 



* den has confirmed the fact by about fifteen examples selected, as 

 1 he says, with a little pains, from a Malay Dictionary ; which, had 

 4 he been acquainted with the Sanscrit language, he might, with 



* very little labour, have extended to fifteen hundred, or perhaps 

 ' five thousand.' Many of the Sanscrit words in Malaya, as he ob- 

 serves, " are such as the progress of civilization must soon have 

 rendered necessary ; being frequently expressive of mental feel- 

 ings, or such modes of thinking as naturally result from the social 

 habits of mankind, or from the evils which tend to interrupt them. 

 Many of the names of the common objects of sensation are also 

 of Sanscrit origin, nevertheless the simplest part of the Malayan 

 language, and that which is most indispensable to its existence 

 as a distinct tongue, is certainly not derived from the Sanscrit." 

 In passing it may be noted that the influence of Sanscrit on Ma- 

 layan, is precisely similar to its influence on Tamil and Telugu ; 

 the basis in both of which, a,s in Malaya, is independent of Sans- 

 crit. Dr. Leyden controverts Marsden's opinion, that the po- 

 lish of Malay u is derived from Sanscrit or Hinduvi by way of 

 Guzerat ; as also that it has received nothing from the Telugu or 

 from the Tamil : Coromandel being known to the Malays under the 

 name of Tanna kelung the land oiKeliag or kalinga, and the Malayu 

 containing many translations professedly from the Bdsa-k'eling or 

 kalinga language, with many words that are Tamil, Malay alam, and 

 Telugu ; though neither Sanscrit, Hinduvi nor Guzerat, and a 

 variety that are only to be found in Telugu, the vernacular lan- 

 guage of Kalinga desa. He concludes that the reverse of Marsden's 

 opinion is true ; however, from evidence hereafter to be adduced, 

 it is probable that both Marsden and Leyden may have reason 

 on their side, for some early colonies came to Java from Guzerat, 



