Kalidasa, a great dramatic and epic poet, the father of the Sanskrit drama, wrote- the Raghu vansa, the Kumara - sambhava, and Sakuntala, There also appeared Mrich'claha-kati or Toy Cart, a drama in ten acts; the poem of Nala and Damn yanti•, the Megha-duta or Cloud Messenger ; the Gita Govind of Jayadeva, about the 12th century; and between the 8th and 16th centuries there appeared the eighteen Puranas, meaning old writings, which form the sacred texts of the modern Hindus.
Hindus reckon six great poems, or Maha-Kavya, three of them, the Raghuvansa, the Kumara sambhava, and Megha duta, by Kalidasa ; the Kiratar-juniya, author unknown; Sisupala badha. by Magha; and the Naishaha-charitra by Sri Harsha.
The great defect in all the Sanskrit writings is in the absence of historical literature. On the other hand, the Muhammadan histories always present a connected narrative of the progress of events, show a knowledge of geography, a minute attention to dates, and a readiness to quote authorities. None of the Hindu nations have books from which a history of their own country could be drawn up, similar to what Sir Henry Elliot contemplated, the sole work of a historical character by any of the Brahman race being the Raja Tarangini, a history of Kashmir by Kalhana.
Their writings have been largely speculative,— works of imagination, poetry, and the drama; and religion, astronomy, mathematics, ethics, grammar, etymology, and philosophy, with books on medi cine, have formed a large part of their writings. Hindu literature is largely interwoven with the Hindu religions.
Buddhism has had two great revivals in India. Asoka (B.c. 257) collected the body of Buddhist doctrine into an authoritative version, in the Magadlii language, or dialect of his central king dom in Behar, and this version for 2000 years has formed the canon of the southern Buddhists. He issued and engraved on rocks fourteen edicts enjoining the principles of that faith. Later on, Kanishka, a great Saka conqueror who ruled (A.D. 40) over the N.W. of India, from Yarkand and ? Khokand to Agra and Sind, drew up three commentaries on the Buddhist faith. These com mentaries supplied in part materials for the Tibetan or Northern Canon, completed at subsequent periods. The Chinese designate this Northern Canon as the Greater Vehicle of the Law, and it includes many later developments or corruptions of the faith as originally embodied by Asoka in the Lesser Vehicle or Canon of the Southern Buddhists (B.c. 244). The Buddhist Canon of
China, a branch of the Greater Vehicle, was arranged between A.D. 67 and 1285. It includes 1440 distinct works, comprising 5586 books.
In A.D. 410-432, the holy books of Asoka were rendered into Pali, which is now the sacred language of the Buddhists of Ceylon, Burma, and Siam.
The literature of the Singhalese Buddhists is in Pali, and the Dipavansa contains a history of Buddhism in that island which breaks off with the death of Mahasena, A.D. 302. The Maha wansa was compiled by Mahawana, who lived about A.D. 500, was brought down by successive writers to the 18th century, and was translated by the Honourable G. Tumour, of the Ceylon Civil Service. The Singhalese language, accord ing to Bask, belongs to the Turanian family of speech ; but in Ceylon, where the Aryan and Dravidian element is intermixed, a remnant of Buddhists is still to be found who use the Pali scriptures.
Pittakayan, or the Three Baskets, embodies the doctrines, discourses, and discipline of the Buddh ists. Its contents extend to 592,000 stanzas, and the Atthakatha or commentaries, which are as old as the 5th century, contain 361,550 more. They were translated into Pali from Singhalese by Buddhaghoso, A.D. 420 (Mahawanso, cxxxvii. p. 252). The legendary tales profess to have been related by Gautama Buddha, and were col lected under the title of Pansiya panas jatakapota, or the 550 births.
India has been repeatedly overrun by races from the west,—TuraniansIranians, and Semites, —and this has led to the formation of a new language, known as Urdu orldindustani. It is a lingua franca, and largely in use throughout British India. It is a mixed tdngue, formed on the Indian dialect of Kanouj, to which have been added numerous words from all the languages of the native Indian races and of the invading armies. This new tongue has been almost solely used for poetry ; and Wali, the earliest of the celebrated poets who have used modern Hindu stani, wrote in the miclfie of hn 17+1 na,,fill,r • Sauda in the 18th century. They have been fol lowed by a multitude ; but their compositions are in general mere imitations of the Persians.