of Sákya, were compiled, and therefore also promulgated.* 27. In the opinion of Turnour, the celebrated scholar, the Páli is a "rich and poetical language, which had already attained its present refinement at the time of Gotama Buddha's advent" (B. c. 588). According to Sir William Jones,† it is "little more than the language of the Bráhmans, melted down by a delicate articulation to the softness of Italian." To me it seems to bear the same relation to Sanskrit that Italian does to Latin, and a much nearer one than modern English does to Anglo-Saxon. The nasal sounds are melted down; the compounds are softened to double and even single consonants; and the open vowels are more numerous. It is the opinion of all European scholars that the Páli language is derived almost entirely from the Sanskrit; and in this opinion I fully coincide. Messrs. Burnouf and Lassen, who jointly formed a Páli Grammar, state, as the result of their labours, that Páli is almost identical with Sanskrit ; and Pro * Csoma, in Prinsep's Journal, vol. vi. p. 503. I use the term Prákrit as comprehending all the written and cultivated dialects of Northern India. Prákrit means 66 common" or 66 natural," in contradistinction to the "artificial" or "refined Sanskrit. + Preface to Sakuntala. Essai sur le Pali; par E. Burnouf et Chr. Lassen, p. 187,— "Il en est résulté qu'elle etait presque identique à l'idiome sacré des Brahmanes.” fessor Lassen, at a later date,* when more conversant with the Páli books, states authoritatively, that the whole of the Prákrit language is derived from the Sanskrit. Turnourt also declares his conviction that all researches tend to prove the greater antiquity of Sanskrit. Professor Wilson and James Prinseps are likewise of the same opinion. This conclusion seems to me self evident; for there is a tendency in all spoken languages to suppress dissimilar consonants, and to soften hard ones: as in the Latin Camillus for the Tuscan Cadmilus, and the English farthing for the Anglo-Saxon feorthling; or, as in the Páli assa, "a horse," for the Sanskrit aswa, and the Páli majha, "middle," for the Sanskrit madhya. There is also a natural inclination to clear away the semi-vowels and weaker consonants; as in the English King, for the Anglo-Saxon Kyning, or as in the Páli Olakita, "the seen" (i. e. Buddha), for the Sanskrit Avalakita; and in the Páli Ujeniya, a 66 man of Ujain," for the Sanskrit Ujjayaniya. It is always therefore easy to determine between any written languages, that resemble each other, which of the two is the original, and which the borrowed; • Institutiones Linguæ Prakritica; Chr. Lassen, p. 6,-" Prakriticam linguam derivatam esse totam a Sanskriticâ." + Turnour-Mahawanso, Introduction, p. xiii. The general results of all researches tend to prove the greater antiquity of the Sanskrit. + Hindu Theatre, vol. i. p. lxiii. because letters and syllables are never added, but, on the contrary, are always suppressed or curtailed in the process of time. The Páli is, therefore, without doubt, derived from the Sanskrit, and must, moreover, have been a spoken language for many centuries. 28. For the publication of his esoteric theories regarding the origin of the world, and the creation of mankind, Sákya made use of the Sanskrit language only. But the perfect language of our day, perhaps, owes much of its refinement to the care and sagacity of that Great Reformer; for it seems highly probable that KÁTYÁYANA, the inspired saint and lawgiver who corrected the inaccuracies of Pánini's Sanskrit grammar,* is the same as the KACHHAYANOT who compiled the Páli grammar during the life-time of Sákya. Kátyáyana's annotations on Pánini, called Vártikas, restrict his vague rules, enlarge his limited ones, and mark numerous exceptions to others. "These amended rules of Sanskrit grammar were formed into memorial verses by Bhartrihari, whose metrical aphorisms, entitled Káriká, have almost equal authority with the precepts of Pánini, and emendations of Kátyáyana. According to popular tradition, Bhartrihari was the brother of Vikramaditya, the author of the Hindu * Colebrooke, Trans. As. Soc. Bengal, vii. 199. + Kachháyano is only the Páli form of the Sanskrit Kátyáyana; the tya of the latter being invariably changed to chha. Colebrooke, Trans. As. Soc. Bengal, vii. 204. E Samvat, which dates from B. c. 57. The age of Kátyáyana is unknown; but as he flourished between the date of Pánini, in about 1100 B. C., and that of Bhartrihari, in 57 B. C., there is every probability in favour of the opinion that he was one of the disciples of Buddha. 29. But this identification of the two greatest grammarians of the Sanskrit and Páli languages rests upon other grounds besides those mentioned above. Colebrooke, Wilson, and Lassen, have all identified the commentator on Pánini with Vararuchi, the author of the "Prákrit Grammar," called Prakrita-prakása, or Chandrika. Of Vararuchi nothing more is known than that his work is the oldest Prákrit grammar extant, and that his body of rules includes all that had been laid down by earlier grammarians regarding the the vernacular dialects. 30. This identification is still more strikingly confirmed by the fact that Kachháyano is not a name but only a patronymic,* which signifies the son of Kachho, and was first assumed by the grammarian himself. If, therefore, Vararuchi Katyayana is not the same person as Kachháyano, he must be posterior to him and of the same family. We shall thus have *Turnour's Mahawanso, Introduction, p. xxvi. where the original passage of the Rupasiddhi is given. See also Csoma de Koros, in Prinsep's Journal, vii. p. 144, where the fact is confirmed; as the Tibetans call the Grammarian Kátyáhi-bu-that is, the son of KÁTYA. A two Kátyáyanas of the same family living much about the same time, each of whom compiled a Páli or Prákrit grammar; a conclusion which is much more improbable than that the two were one and the same person. 31. I have been thus particular in stating all the evidences in favour of this supposition, as the probable identity of the two great grammarians seems to me to offer an additional reason for considering Sákya Muni as one of the chief benefactors of his country. For I believe that we must not look upon Sákya Muni simply as the founder of a new religious system, but as a great social reformer who dared to preach the perfect equality of all mankind, and the consequent abolition of caste, in spite of the menaces of the most powerful and arrogant priesthood in the world. We must regard him also as a patriot, who, in spite of tyrannical kings and princes, had the courage to incite his countrymen to resist the forcible abduction of their wives and daughters by great men.* To him the Indians were indebted for a code of pure and practical morality, which inculcated charity and chastity, performance of good works, and abstinence from evil, and general kindness to all living things. To him also I believe they owe the early refinement and systematic arrangement of their language in the selection of the learned * See the fifth of the "Seven Imperishable Precepts, imparted by Sakya to the people of Vaisáli."-Turnour in Prinsep's Journal, vii. p. 991. |