The Ethnology of the British Colonies and Dependencies Part 13

_The Malayalma_ or _Malayalam_--and in the greater part of Mysore--

_The Kanara_--which, like the Tamul and Telinga, is both High and Low--literary or vulgar.

Amongst these four well-known forms of the South Tamulian tongue, may be distributed several dialects and sub-dialects. Such as the Tulava for the parts between Goa and Mangalore, and the Coorgi of the Rajahship of Coorg, not to mention the several varieties in the language of the hill-tribes.

Now all the populations of the present chapter agree in this particular--their language is generally admitted to be Tamulian at the present moment, or if not, to have been so at some earlier period. With the languages next under notice, the original Tamulian character is not so admitted--indeed, it is so far denied as to make the affirmation of it partake of the nature of paradox.

The distinction then is raised on the existence of the doubt in question, or rather on the differences that such a doubt implies. Hence the division of the languages of India into the Hindu and the Tamulian is practical rather than scientific--the _Hindu_ meaning those for which a _Sanskrit_, rather than a _Tamul_ affinity is claimed.

_Sanskrit_ is the name of a language; a name upon which nine-tenths of the controversial points in Indian ethnology and in Indian history turn.

FOOTNOTES:

[22] "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. viii.

[23] "Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. vi. part 2.

See also pp. 112, 113 of the present volume.

[24] Described by Lieutenants Phayre and Latter in "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal."

[25] Dr. Helfer, "Asiatic Society of Bengal," vol. viii.

[26] "Asiatic Researches," vol. v.

[27] Dr. Buchanan, "Asiatic Researches," vol. v.

[28] Macrae in "Asiatic Researches," vol. vii.

[29] Eliot, in "Asiatic Transactions," vol. iii.

[30] Eliot, _ut supra_.

[31] For Jan. 1849.

[32] "Transactions of the British a.s.sociation for the Advancement of Science," 1844.

[33] "Statistical Sketch of k.u.maon," by G. W. Traill, Asiatic Researches, vol. xvi.

[34] From the Greek _polys_=_many_, and _anaer_=_man_.

[35] Eliot in "Asiatic Researches," vol. iv.

[36] Captain S. C. Macpherson, "Journal of the Asiatic Society," vol.

xiii.

[37] See Lieut. Newbold, "Journal of the Asiatic Society," vol. viii.

[38] Lieut. C. P. Rigby, in "Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society," May to August 1850.

[39] The Soars of Orissa.

[40] Col. Todd, "Travels in Western India."

CHAPTER IV.

THE SANSKRIT LANGUAGE.--ITS RELATIONS TO CERTAIN MODERN LANGUAGES OF INDIA; TO THE SLAVONIC AND LITHUANIC OF EUROPE.--INFERENCES.-- BRAHMINISM OF THE PURANAS--OF THE INSt.i.tUTES OF MENU.--EXTRACT.--OF THE VEDAS.--EXTRACT.--INFERENCES.--THE HINDuS.--SIKHS.--BILUCHI.-- AFGHANS.--WANDERING TRIBES.--MISCELLANEOUS POPULATIONS.--CEYLON.-- BUDDHISM.--DEVIL-WORSHIP.--VADDAHS.

The language called _Sanskrit_ has a peculiar alphabet. It has long been written, and embodies an important literature. It has been well studied; and its ethnological affinities are understood. They are at least as remarkable as any other of its characters.

Like most other tongues, it falls into dialects; just like the ancient Greek. Like the Doric, aeolic, and Ionic, these dialects were spoken over distant countries, and cultivated at different periods. Like them, too, each is characterized by its peculiar literature.

The Sanskrit itself, in its oldest form, is the _Vedaic_ dialect of the religious hymns called _Vedas_--of great, but of exaggerated, antiquity.

Another form of equal antiquity is the language of the Persepolitan and other arrow-headed inscriptions. These are of a known antiquity, and range from the time of Cambyses to that of Artaxerxes.

By _old_ is meant _old in structure_, _i.e._, betraying by its archaic forms, an early stage of development. It is by no means _old_ in chronology. In the way of chronology, the English of Shakespeare is older than the German of Goethe; yet the German of Goethe is the older tongue, because it retains more old inflections.

The third form is called _Pali_. In this is written the oldest Indian inscription; one containing the name of Antiochus, one of Alexander's successors. It is also the dialect of the chief Buddhist works.

A fourth form is the _Bactrian_. This occurs in the coins of Macedonian and other Indianized kings of Bactria, and is best studied in the "Ariana Antiqua," of Wilson.

A fifth is the _Zend_ of the Zendavesta, the Scriptures of the followers of Zoroaster.

Others are called _Pracrit_. Some of the Sanskrit works are dramatic. In the modern comedies of Italy we find certain characters speaking the provincial dialects of Naples, Bologna, and other districts. The same took place here. In the Sanskrit plays we find deflexions from the standard language, put into the mouths of some of the subordinate characters. It is believed that these Pracrits represented certain local dialects, as opposed to the purer and more cla.s.sical Sanskrit.

Every spoken dialect of Hindostan has a per-centage of Sanskrit words in it; just as every dialect of England has an amount of Anglo-Norman. What does this prove? That depends upon the per-centage; and this differs in different languages. In a general way it may be stated that, amongst the tongues already enumerated, it is smallest in the isolated Tamulian tongues; larger in the Tamul of the Dekhan; and largest in the tongues about to be enumerated; these being the chief languages of modern Hindostan.

1. The _Marathi_ of the Mahrattas. Here the Sanskrit words amount to four-fifths in the Marathi dictionaries.

2. The _Udiya_, of Cuttack and Orissa, with a per-centage of Sanskrit greater than that of the Marathi, but less than that of--

3. The _Bengali_. Here it is at its _maximum_, and amounts to nine-tenths.

4. The _Hindu_, of Oude, and the parts between Bengal and the Punjab, falling into the subordinate dialects of the Rajput country.

5. The _Gujerathi_ of Gujerat.

6. The _Scindian_ of Scinde.

7. The _Multani_ of Multan; probably a dialect of either the Gujerathi or--

8. The _Punjabi_ of the Punjab.

By going into minor differences this list might be enlarged.