14 



Essay on Tehigu Literature. 



[July 



scrit among the Telugus corresponds with the purest pronunciation used 

 at Benares. « 



5. The Telugus frequently advert to the idea that Sanscrit is the 

 mother of their language, just as in older times we used to look upon 

 Latin as the source of English- This notion very naturally arises from 

 their ancient grammars being written in Sanscrit, and constructed on 

 Sanscrit principles. Yet Sanscrit is far from being generally cultivated: 

 perhaps among the educated classes one third of the Telugus can read 

 the vernacular poets : and of that third not one in twenty has ever been 

 instructed in the Sanscrit literature. Indeed Telugu poetry though 

 thickly interspersed with Sanscrit words is unintelligible (as is Teluga 

 conversation also), to many a foreigner; as for instance, a Tamil or Ca- 

 narese "Bramin: notwithstanding his command of Sanscrit literature he 

 may remain unable to read or even to pronounce Telugu. Others assert 

 that at least Telugu poetry originates in Sanscrit. This is easily dis- 

 proved. In orthography all the laws of permutation and elision are wide- 

 ly different: and every law of the Telugu prosody is totally dissimilar 

 to Sanscrit, although five or six metres (out of some hundreds) have 

 been imitated from that language. 



6. The circle which has been mentioned does not include all those 

 parts of the Indian peninsula where the language is spoken: for the 

 Telugus have emigrated to various parts of Southern India; thus a know- 

 ledge of this language will be available in the Tamil districts, and par- 

 ticularly in the neighbourhood of Madras. We find however no signs 

 of emigration into the Telugu districts : the tyranny of the Musulman 

 rulers of Telingana in former days is generally referred to as accounting 

 for this fact. 



7 Christianity has hi iherto made a scarcely perceptible beginning 

 among the Telugus: the bulk of whom are Hindus, of the two bramini- 

 cal sects called Vaishnavite and Saivite ; and of the Jangamas who look 

 upon the others as mere idolators: while they themselves worship 

 the symbol of I'swara suspended in a reliquary on their breasts. These 

 three sects are perhaps equal in numerical strength, if among the Sai- 

 vites we reckon the Smartas who are a sort of free-thinkers. 



8. The Musulmans are widely spread through the country but are in 

 a degraded state; they continue to talk Hindustani, but few can write it ; 

 indeed they are so illiterate that their accounts and correspondence ge- 

 nerally are in the Tel. igu writing of a Bramin : they have sunk into a 

 menial condition and their language has disappeared from the records 

 even of Government, excepting a few departments wherein the law re- 

 quires the Persian character. 



