p. 604; Vistara; ed. by Rajendrdal Mittra, Cale. 1853, tf.) The language which, in a peculiar sense, is called Prakrit, properly Naha rRslart (for its local origin is to be sought in the country of the Mahrattas), differs little from the Pali ; it is used by the JaMs. The 1118gadhi and the &murascnt, the former originally,spoken in Behar, and the latter on the banks of the Jumna, are only a little farther removed from the Sanskrit. (Lassen, ' lnstitutiones Linguae I'raeri ticre,' Bonn, 1838 ; J. Muir,' Original Sanskrit Texts,' voL it, p. 138,1f., where the different opinions on the origin of the Prakiits are set forth and examined.) In addition to these there are numerous more modern dialects, among which we shall only distinguish the Vrajabheshe, (Brij Bliaklia), on account of the excellence of its poetical literature, and as being the parent of the Hindustani.
The fonnation of the l'rakrita languages out of the Sanskrit flowed naturally from the character of the parent tongue, and this tendency is manifested even in the earliest shape of the Sanskrit. This appears, to take a single instance, in the enbetitution of the ch and j (the Italian ci and gi) for the original k and g (just as the Italian gielo is formed from edit). In like manner, it was perfectly consistent with the character of the classical Sanskrit to adopt the verbal forms of the Prakrit, and to retain them together with the legitimate and settled forms, which is a proof that the two languages must have co-existed for a long period.
The I'ali appears as a perfectly-formed language in the Buddhist works carried to Ceylon, which we cannot fix at a later date than the 4th century before Christ (Lassen,' Ind. Alt.,' ii. 4S9; Muir, 1. 1. p. 65 107) ; and the 31agadhl dialect has been found distinctly recorded, in the middle of the 3rd century before Christ, in the inscriptions of King Asoka, which were first deciphered by the late 31 r. J. Prinsep (' Jour. Asiat. Soc. Beng.,' 1837, pp. 566, 794, 963), whose translations were subsequently revised by Prof. H. II. Wilson (' Journ. R. Asiat. Soc.,' for 1849, vol. xii., p. 153-251, and vol. xvi., p. 357, It); and a portion of then) were lastly examined by N. E. Burnout (' Le Lotus do la bonne Loi,' Paris, 1852, p. 652-781), whose researches on the whole question may be considered as conclusive (Lassen, ' Ind. Alt.' ii. p. 215-229). A Prakrit language likewise appears on the coins of the — - Greek kings found in Caubul, and near the Indus, which have been deciphered by Prinsep, Lassen, Wilson, and E. Thomas. (J. Prinsep, ' Essays on Ind. Antiquities.' Loud., 1853, 2 vols.) Many of the names also which have been transmitted to ua by the Greeks are Prakrit; that of the Deccan, for instance, in the Periplus of the Erythrrean Sea, Assxlea,6siaer, does not correspond to the Sanskrit dalcshinOpatha, but strictly to the Prakrit dakNinahadlia. Hence it follows, that in the last five centuries p.c. the Prakrit must have become completely the language of the people ; and indeed the dramas which were written about this time show the relation of the two languages in the most distinct manner, the men speaking Sanskrit, and the women and inferior characters Prakrit ; which is likewise a proof that the Sanskrit was actually a living tongue, and was used in conversation by all educated people. This is proved by many other circum
stances ; and it would be a great mistake to view the Sanskrit as having become from this time merely a learned language. On the contrary, it was in vogue at the court of Cashmere as late as the 12th century A.D. (Lassen, L 1., iii., p. 1032, ff.), and probably in the small independent courts of 3lalwa even in the 14th and 15th centuries. It is consistent with all that we know, that the language should be in a different condition in the different provinces of India, The Moham medan conquest, however, gave the final blow to it, and it is now used only in learned disputations in the colleges of the Brahmins.
Literature.—The Sanskrit literature begins with the Vedas, and is founded entirely upon them. [VEDAS.] The rest of the literature may be divided into the poetical and the scientific. The poetical literature may be referred to two distinct periods, one of which is chiefly distinguished by the composition of the great epic poems, and the other may he characterised as the period of artificial poetry. In the former, the interest is a national one, and arises from the subject; in the latter, it depends upon the form.
Epic Poetry.—IS e possess the epic poetry only in its most perfect state, and consequently its origin is involved in obscurity, and must be looked for among the whom the' Rainflyana ' presents to us pretty much in the same character as that in which they appear among the later princes of India. The materials of the epic consisted primarily of the genealogies of the princely families whom the rhap sodists perved, and next, of certain prominent events in the family history, which were at first sung separately, but afterwards incorporated in the genealogy itself. It is possible therefore that there may have I been as many epic poems as there were princely races. In the lapse of time, however, all these poems have been lost except two, which are indebted for their preservation partly to their poetical merit, and still more to the interest of the subject : these are the ' Ilfunayaua ' and the ‘31ahabh&rata.' But even these have undergone many important alterations since they came from the hands of the authors ; in fact, they have been entirely remodelled in accordance with the interests of the priesthood, by the addition of those 'harts in which Rama and Krishna, originally uo more than mortal heroes, appear as incarnations of Vishnu ; these additions, however, have been so loosely attached, that they might easily be separated without detriment to the whole. In the ' 31ahabharata, the object has been kept in view of including in one collection the whole cycle of tradition ; and as the epic poems - were intended for the instruction and amusement of the warrior caste, not only was everything added which could increase their reverence for the Brahmins, but there are whole books, of considerable length, In which their systems of cosmogony, philosophy, and law are explained in a popular manner.