Language and are two principal steps of Indian civilization: (r) the older or Vedic period, and (2) the Brahmanic period. Buddhism was developed from the latter as a third step. The language also bears a different character according to this twofold or threefold division. The Vedic language was spoken by the ancient Indians who migrated about 2000 13. c. from the West into India; the ancient sacred hymns of the Indians are composed in it, and it is the mother of all the other Indian idioms.
The second stage, that of Brahmanism, gradually developed from the Vedic period after the people had become established, soon after their migration, and principally in Western India, extending as far as the Pun jab, which remained true to the Vedic civilization. Sanskrit was never spoken by the people, for, as its name implies, it was an artificial tongue which the educated Brahmans had formed from the vernacular. It was divided into several dialects, only the latter form of which (the Prakrit) has been retained. Sanskrit literature proper begins about 250 u. c. or a little later, shortly after Alexander's invasion, and when Buddhism was gaining ground.
These two important events exercised a powerful influence on Indian literature. Indeed, it seems as though the construction of the two great epics, the .1fahabharata and the Ramayana, must be ascribed to direct Greek influence. Buddhism also strongly influenced Indian literature by its deeds and ideas. The northern Buddhists wrote in Sanskrit, but the works of the southern Buddhists were later on (about 42o A. D. according to Weber) translated into Pali, the now extinct dialect of the 1\Iagadlia country. The Pali thus became the sacred language of all Buddhism, which spread especially from Southern India.
Another cause of its influence was the fact that the new religion, according to the principles of its founder, generally made use of the idioms of the people both orally and in writing, thereby giving new life to them. All these languages, the Pali not excepted, are organic devel opments of the old Indian tongue. That modern Indian idioms are only deteriorated dialects as compared with the old regularly-developed ones, as is the case with the present Romance tongues in contrast with the Latin, is due to the invasions of the Mongolians and the Mohammedans.
development of the caste spirit belongs to the Brahmanic period, although its foundations are far older and are rooted in the ancient religious ideas which prevail in patriarchal states. But it was
strengthened by the special doctrines of the Indian religion. The Brahmans, or priests, constitute the first caste; the Kshattriyas, or warriors, the second; next follow the Vaisyas, or agriculturists; fourth, the Sudras, or mechanics; and finally, the Pariahs and others not in cluded in the preceding castes, such as those who had charge of the dead. Time ancient caste system still survives, but it has undergone various changes.
In Cashmere the Brahmans are numerous and influential, but in other regions the caste no longer exists; in the north-west the Kshattriyas have been transformed into a mercantile class; the Kaiths or Kayasthas, origin ally a lower caste of the Hindoos, rose by connection with the victorious Mohammedans, and are now active in Central and Eastern India as scien tists or scribes. The Baniyas (that is, " business-men"), who seem to have been developed from a lower caste, are at present very influential not only in India, but in Africa, Arabia, and elsewhere.
There are some barbarous tribes of Indian origin among whom the caste spirit had not been developed, who settled at a later period in the civilized region, such as the Jats in the north-west and the Rajpoots; and as they have remained distinct from the Indians, they constitute inde pendent classes. By all these transitions the original caste spirit has been much modified. It is difficult to form a clear idea of all the classes and of their condition. The distinction of castes has lost its old severity in the north, but time Indian type is particularly pure in the Brahmans, because they have faithfully preserved the caste traditions.
Religion: threefold development is also marked by different forms of religion. In the Vedic period the Indian religion was a cult of the deified powers of nature, especially of the gleaming vault of the heavens, with its magnificence by day and its infinite vast ness at night; of fire, which serves as a sacrificial flame to call forth the gods and to intercede for man; of the winds, and of several other deities. In those times the gods were not represented by images. Soma-liquor, the pressed juice of an Asclepias, was the chief offering, and animal sacrifices were rare. The Vedas themselves are collections of hymns sung to the glory of the individual gods, the most powerful of whom was Indra.