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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 2, p. 208.

208 THE INDIAN EMPIRE [CHAP. Indian literature. About the close of the Sanskrit period we have the very valuable account of India, at the time of the Muhammadan invasion, by the Arabic author Alberaii, written in A.D. 1030. The Vedic The language in which the Vedas were composed is an older language. form of classical Sanskrit, differing from the latter on the whole about as much as Homeric differs from classical Greek, or the Latin of the Salian hymns from that of Varro. In the Vedic language several stages can, however, be distinguished. The Sanskrit period may be regarded as commencing from the time when the language was stereotyped by the great grammarian The San- Panini, at the end of the fourth century E. c. Classical Sanskrit skrit lan- is phonetically almost exactly the same as the earliest Vedic; grammatically it differs from the latter chiefly by the disappear- ance of many forms; linguistic changes are otherwise chiefly to be found in the vocabulary. This later phase of the language is called Sanskrit (sam-skyrita, 'put together '), the 'refined' or Prakrit. ' elaborate,' as opposed to Prakrit ( prdkrita), the name of the old popular dialects which are descended from the earliest form of Sanskrit, and which in turn are the sources of the modern Indian vernaculars. These ancient Prakrits occupy an importantposition by the side of the parent language. In the first place, the oldest Indian inscriptions, from the third century B.c. onwards, are written in Prhkrit, not Sanskrit. Again, in the ancient Indian dramas Prakrit is to some extent employed beside San- skrit. But the chief importance of the Prakrits lies in the fact that they are the main literary vehicle of the two great non- Brahmanical religions of India, Jainism and Buddhism. Pra- krit already existed in the sixth century B.c., for it was in the vernacular that Buddha preached his gospel in order that all might understand him. The oldest form of literary Prakrit is Pali, the sacred language of the type of Buddhism pre- served in Ceylon. It is related to Sanskrit in much the same way as Italian to Latin, characteristically avoiding conjunct consonants and preferring final vowels. Thus the Sanskrit sutra, 'thread,' and dharma, 'duty,' become sutfa and dhzamma respectively, while vw'dut, 'lightning,' assumes the form of vljj'u. Religious From beginning to end Vedic literature bears an exclusively olfaecter religious stamp; even its latest productions were composed at literature. least to subserve religious purposes. This is, indeed, implied by the term 'Vedic.' For veda, primarily signifying 'know- ledge,' regularly either designates 'sacred lore' as a branch of literature, or has the restricted sense of ' sacred book.'