1.53 
H I N D O 
The five Hindoo nations, whofe peculiar dialefts have 
Irecn thus briefly noticed, occupy the northern and eaft- 
hm portions of India; they are denominated the Jive Gaurs. 
The red, called the five. Dravirs, inhabit the fouthern and 
wefferh "parts of the peninfula. Some Pandits- indeed fex r 
elude Carnata, and moftitute Cackemira ; but others, with 
jrfbre. propriety, omit the Cachemirian tribe ; and, by ad¬ 
ding the Oanaras to the.lift of Dravirs, avoid the incon- 
fiftency of placing a northern tribe among fouthern na¬ 
tions. There is reafon too for doubting whether Cache- 
mire be occupied by a diftinft nation, and whether the 
inhabitants of it be not rather a tribe of Canyacubjas; 
Dravirt is the country which terminates the peninfula 
of India. Its*'northern limits appear to lie between the 
twelfth and thirteenth degrees of north latitude. The 
language of the province is the Tamcl, to which Euro¬ 
peans have given the name of Malabar, from Malay-icar, a 
province of Dravira. They have fimilarly corrupted the 
true name of the dialeft into Tamul, Tamulic, and Ta- 
mulian ; but the word, as pronounced by the natives, is 
Tam la, or Tamntak ; and this teems to indicate a deriva¬ 
tion front Tamra, or Tamraparni , a river of note, which 
waters the fouthern Mathura, fituated witliih the limits 
of Dravir. The provincial dialeft is written in a charac¬ 
ter which is greatly corrupted from the parent Devana- 
ga'ri, but which nevevthelefs is ufed by the Brahmins of 
Dravir in writing the Sanfkrit language. The Tamla 
contains many SanJIirit words, either unaltered or little 
changed, with others more corrupted, and a ftill greater 
number of doubtful origin. 
The Maharafhtra, or Mahratta , is the language of a na¬ 
tion which lias now greatly enlarged its ancient limits. 
If anj’ inference may be drawn from the name of the cha¬ 
rafter in which the language is written, the country oc¬ 
cupied by this people was formerly called Mum ; for the 
peculiar corruption of the Devanagari, which is employed 
by the Maharalhtras in common tranfaftions, is denomi¬ 
nated by them‘Afar. Their books, it muft be remarked, 
nre commonly written in Devanagari. The Mahratta na¬ 
tion was formerly confined to a*mountainous trait fitu¬ 
ated fouth of the river Nermada, and extending to the 
province of Cocan. Their language is now more widely 
fpread, but is not yet become the vernacular dialeft of 
provinces fituated far beyond the ancient bounds of their 
country. Like other Indian tongues, it contains much 
pure Sanlkrit, arid more corruptions of that language in¬ 
termixed with words borrowed from Perlian and Arabic, 
and with others derived from an unknown fource. If 
the bards of Muru were once famous,, their luppofed fuc- 
cefl'ors, though lefs celebrated, are not lei's diligent. The 
Mahrattas poflefs many poems in their ow r n dialeft, either 
trail dated-from the Sanlkrit, or original compolitior.s in 
honour of Crilhna, Rama, and other deified heroes. Trea- 
tifes in profe too, on fubjefts of logic and of philolophy, 
have been compofed in the Mahratta dialeft. 
Carnata, or Camara, is the ancient language of Carna- 
taca, the Carnatic, a proyince which has given name to 
diftrifts on both coafts of the peninfula. This dialeft ftill 
prevails in the intermediate mountainous traft, but feems 
to be fuperfeded by other provincial tongues on the eaft- 
ern coalt A peculiar character formed from the Deva¬ 
nagari, but like the Tamla, much corrupted from it 
through the practice of writing on palm-leaves with an 
iron ftyle, is called by the lame 'name with the language 
of the Carnatic. 
Tailanga, Ttlinga, or Tilanga, is at once the name of a 
nation, of its language, and of the character in which 
that language is written. Though the province of Te- 
lingana alone retains the name in publiflied maps of In¬ 
dia, yet the adjacent provinces on either bank of Crilhna 
and Godaveri, and thofe fituated on the north-eaftem 
coaft of the peninfula, are undoubtedly comprehended 
within the ancient limits of Tilanga, and are inhabited 
chiefly by people of this tribe. The language too is 
widely fpread ; and many circnmftances indicate that the 
• Vol. X. No. 649. 
0 S T A N, 
Tailangas formerly occupied a very extenfive traft, in 
which they ftill conftitute the principal part of the, popu¬ 
lation. The charafter in which they write their own lan¬ 
guage is taken frorrf'DeVanagaree, and the Tailanga Brah¬ 
mins employ it in writing the Sanlkrit tongue ; from 
which the Tailanga idiom is faid to have borrowed more 
largely than other dialefts ufed in the fouth of India. 
This language appears to have been cultivated by poets, 
if not by-profe writers, for the Tailangas poflefs many 
compofitions in their own provincial dialeft, fome of which 
are laid to record the ancient hiftory of the country. 
The province of Gurgara does not appear to have been 
at any time much more extenfive than the modern Gitze- 
rat, although Brahmanas diftinguifhed by the name of 
that country, be now fpread over the adjoining provinces 
on both Tides of the Nermada. This tribe ufes a language 
denominated-from their own anpellatioh, but very nearly 
allied to the Hindi tongue,, while the charafter in which 
it is written conforms almoft exaftiy with vulgar Naga.fi, 
Such are the Pracrits, or fecond clafs of Indian languages. 
The third clafs, Or languages denominated Magad'ni, 
and Apabhranja, comprehend all thofe dialefts which are 
generally known by the common appellation of Bha/ha, 
or fpeech; and which indicates any of the modern ver¬ 
nacular dialefts of India, efpecially fucli as are corrupted 
from the Sanlkrit. There are very numerous. After ex¬ 
cluding mountaineers, who are moftly aborigines of In¬ 
dia, there yet remain in the mountains and iflands conti¬ 
guous to India, many tribes that feem to be degenerate 
Hindoos ; they have certainly retained fome traces of the 
language and writing- which their anceitors had been 
taught to employ. 
Without palling the limits of Hindooftan, it might be 
eafy to colieft a copious lift of different dialefts in the 
various provinces, which are inhabited by the ten princi¬ 
pal Hindoo nations. The extenfive region which is nearly 
defined by the banks of the Sarafwati and Ganga on the 
north, and which is ftriftly limited by the fhores of the 
eaftern and weftern leas towards the fouth, contains fifty- 
feven provinces according to foir.e lifts, and eighty-four 
according to others. Each of thefe provinces has its pe¬ 
culiar dialeft, which appears, however, in molt inftances, 
to be a variety only of fome one among the ten principal 
idioms. Thus Hindoojlanee, which feems to be the lineal 
defeendant of the Canyacubja, comprifes numerous dialefts 
from tlie Orduzeban, or language of the royal camp and 
court, to the barbarous jargon which reciprocal miltakes 
have introduced among European gentlemen and their na¬ 
tive lervants. The fame tongue, under its more appropriate 
denomination of Hindi, comprehends many dialefts ftriftly 
local and provincial. They differ in the proportion of 
Arabic, Perfian, and Sanfkrit, either pure or flightly cor¬ 
rupted, which they contain ; and fome (hades of differ¬ 
ence may be alfo found in the pronunciation, and even 
in the bails, of each dialeft. 
Of the literature of the Hindoos, many elegant fpe- 
cimens have been exhibited by fir William Jones, and 
other gentlemen of the Afiatic Society ; who have given 
the names of many of their rnoft celebrated writers, with 
analyfes of their works. The firfl Indian poet was Valmici, 
author of the Ramayana, a complete epic poem on one 
continued heroic aft ion ; and the next in celebrit}^ if it 
be not fuperior in reputation for hoiinefs, was the Ma~ 
habharata of Vyafa. To him are aferibed the facred Pu- 
ranas, which are called, for their excellence, the Eighteen, 
and which have. the .following titles : Brahme, or the 
Great One ; Ped/na, or the Lotos ; Bfahmanda, or the 
Mundane Egg; and Agni, or Fire; (thefe four relate to 
the Creation;) Vijhnu, or the Pervader; Garuda, or his 
Eagle ; the Transformations or Brahma, Siva, Linga; 
Nareda, fon of Brahma ; Scanda, fon of Siva; Marcandeya, 
or the Immortal Man; and Bhawijhya, of the Prediction of 
Futurity ; (thefe nine belong to the attributes and powers 
of the Deity;) and four others, Matiya, Varaha, Curma, 
Vamena,. or as many incarnations of the Great One in his 
R r charafter 
