328 
KEPORT— 1847 . 
Sanscrit and its dialects, by showing that tijere are many words in commo:i 
use, especially in the languages of Southern India, that cannot, after makiDJ 
every allowance for corruption, be derived from the Brahminical tonguf. 
I lo alleges that there are a great many of the words derived from die Smi- 
frit which arc used only by Brahmins, while uihcrs of tlie same meaning 
but ol a diObrent origin, are constantly substituted by the common people. 
Jle further observes that tlierc are several Sanscrit letters which arc Dew 
iiitroJiiced into the spoken languages of India, or which, if introducai 
none but Brahmins can pronounce. Innumerable combinations ofleiim 
are uniformly deprived ot one <jf their members, or have a vowel inierpoipi 
between the two consonants; and in the south of India several Iciten in 
Used that are not found in Sanscrit. Starting from these observationi, IV. 
.Stevenson further proves that these elements, wliich enter so largely iuw 
the spoken languages of India, cannot be considered as used at random is 
®'^*'y,P^*>cu!ar province, but that they are the same, or nearly *o, in »I1 
the different spoken languages in India. If we can trace, he says, alifl* 
gUHge wholly different from the .Sanscrit in all the modern dialecM, iIk 
northern as well as the southern, after separating also the easily recognkul 
importations by the Mahomedan conquerors of India, it will seem tofoBj'' 
that the whole region previous to the arrival of the Brahmins waspeopW 
by the members of one groat family of a different origin. That Jamily ®*J 
have bei-n^ divided into different branches; one of these may have preceded 
the other in their migrations, yet oneness of language would seem toj*® 
to oneness of origin, esjiccinlly since both history and tradition .ire 
to any 'vide-spread inffiience exercised in ancient times by any foreign wd** 
except the Brahminical. Dr. Srevensou calls the Braliniins a foreign 
m accordance with indications derivable from the cast of their features wd 
t le colour of their skin, aa well as from their jiosscssing a languid ‘*^*^*‘ 
none of the natives of India but iheinselvea can even so much a» prondiinr*' 
and the constant current of their own traditions, making them 
e whole of India, except perhaps a small district to the north-welt o5 ‘ ' 
Ranges. Bven m the lime of Maim, tlie whole country to the 
in ya moumains and Nerbudda river was inhabited by men who did 
su mu themselves to the Brahminical iustiiutions, and among whom he 
vises that no Br.dimi« should go to reside. 
. far as these premises go, I quite agree with Dr. Stevenson; atidi 
IS even commonly .'idinitied that the Brahminical religion and cifiliw"! 
were brought into India from wirliout. Professor Wilson has ingenion-v 
treated this qiusiion in his translation of the VIshnupnrana, wb^n 
that the earliest seat of the Hindus withio '-' 
dies o industhan iva.s undoubtedly die eastern confines of the Pan’* • 
and that the hnly laud of Manu and the Pumas lies between the Drishai*** 
and rivers, the Caggar and Sursooty of our barbarous !«r 
N ariuus adventures of the first princes and the most famous sages 
us vicinity; and the /israwdx, or religions domiciles of several o* • 
tatter, are placed on the banks of the Sarasvatl According to some auibo* 
nties. It was the abode of Vyasa, the compiler of the Vedas and Pura»«- 
iJiit in the Veda itself ibcre are many fiicis wbidi, according w 
{ riion, put It beyond all doubt that the Brahminical people was of » 
aiuf Iran, tlic liirth-place of their langiwgf* .. 
as V""‘‘{?*'ated into India. I hope that this point, ^ w'J 
the ancient history of the Brahminical people, w 
by the publication of t1r« V,.da. That a knowW 
m.nny 
receive a 
in 
others . .. 
new light by the publication of the Veda. 
