crown dates from 1842; in 1853 it obtained the constitution under which (in a modified form) it now exists as a sovereign state. General Barrios, having in 1858 obliged the president Santin del Castillo to abdicate, secured his own permanent appointment to the

office in 1860; but in 1863-4 he failed in his endeavour to defend his capital against the Guatemalans, and when he returned in 1864 to attack Dueñas, the Guatemalan protégé. he was defeated and put to death. "Pronunciamientos" have since been the too general preliminaries of presidential elections; but there has been no serious war, and the finances of the republic have usually a balance on the right side.

See Scherzer, Travels in Central America (1857); Sonnenstern, Descripcion del estado del Salvador (New York, 1859, with a good map reproduced in Berlin Zeitsch. für Geographie, 1860); Dollfus and Montserrat, loy, geologique dans les républiques de Guatemala et de Salvador (1868); Blairet. Le Sairador (1872); Frantzius's translation of De Palacio, San Salvador and Honduras in 1576 (1873); Guzman, Apuntamientos sobre la geogr. fisica de la rep. del Salrador, 1883.

SANSANDING, or SANSANDIG, a town in the interior of Western Africa, on the north bank of the Niger, in 13° 40′ N. lat. and 6° 25′ W. long, and included in the "empire " of Segu. It was visited by Mungo Park in 1796, and in 1865 by Mage and Quintin, who witnessed the stand it made against a siege by Ahmedu, sultan of Segu, from whom it had revolted. The population is estimated at 30,000 to 40,000.

SAN SEBASTIAN, a seaport of Spain, capital of the province of Guipuzcoa, 42 miles north-north-west of Pamplona, and 402 miles by rail from Madrid. It occupies a narrow isthmus, terminated towards the north by a lofty conical rock called Urgull or Orgullo, and flanked on its eastern side by the river Urumea, here crossed by a bridge, and on the other by a bay (La Concha), which forms the harbour. The summit of the hill is crowned by a fort (Castillo de la Mota), and the land ward side of the town was formerly defended by solid ramparts.

S

The houses are almost all modern, built uniformly in

There are

straight streets and regular squares, so as to present an appearance quite unlike most Spanish towns. two large churches, a court-house, a theatre, hospitals, barracks, &c. The manufactures of the place are insignificant; and the harbour is small, and not easily accessible, though well protected by a mole and small island. There is a considerable trade in English and French goods,-corn and other articles being exported. During summer the town is much frequented, especially by the wealthier inhabitants of Madrid, for sea-bathing, and tent-like huts are set up for the purpose on the shore of the bay. From its position and strength San Sebastian has been long a The most memorable of these was in August 1813, when place of much importance, and has sustained several sieges. the British, under Wellington, took it by storm. population within the municipal boundaries was 21,355

in 1877.

The

SAN SEVERO, a city of Italy, in the province of Foggia, and at one time the chief town of the Capitanata, lies at the foot of the spurs of Monte Gargano, and has a Termoli and 17 north of Foggia. It is the see of a bishop station on the railway to Brindisi, 36 miles south-east of (since 1580), and has a handsome cathedral and some re

mains of its old fortifications. In 1880 the population was 19,756 (20,382 in commune).

San Severo dates from the Middle Ages. It was laid in ruins by Frederick II., and in 1053 was the scene of a victory by Robert Guiscard over the papal troops under Leo IX. The overlordship abbey, the Knights Templars, the crown of Naples, and the Sangro was held in succession by the Benedictines of Torre Maggiore family (commendatories of Torre Maggiore). In 1627, and again, in 1828 and 1851, the town suffered from earthquakes.

-some noun

ANSKRIT is the name applied by Hindu scholars to the ancient literary language of India. The word samskrita is the past participle of the verb kar, "to make" (cognate with Latin creo), with the preposition sam, "together" (cog. åμa, ôμós, Eng. same "), and has probably to be taken here in the sense of " completely formed" or "accurately made, polished, meaning "speech" (esp. bháshá) being either expressed or understood with it. The term was, doubtless, originally adopted by native grammarians to distinguish the literary language of the educated classes from the uncultivated popular dialects-the forerunners of the modern vernaculars of northern India-which had, from an early period, developed side by side with it, and which were called (from the same root kar, but with different prepositions) Prakrita, i.e., either "derived" or "natural, common fornis of speech. But this designation of the literary idiom, being evidently intended to imply a language regulated by conventional rules, also involves a distinction between the grammatically fixed language of Brâhmanical India and an earlier, less settled, phase of the same language exhibited in the Vedic writings. For greater convenience the Vedic language is, however, usually included in the term, and scholars generally distinguish between the Vedic and the classical Sanskrit. The Sanskrit language, with its old and modern descendants, represents the easternmost branch of the great IndoGermanic, or Aryan, stock of speech. Philological research has clearly established the fact that the IndoAryans must originally have immigrated into India from the north-west. In the oldest literary documents handed down by them their gradual advance can indeed be traced

from the slopes of eastern Kabulistan down to the land of the five rivers (Punjab), and thence to the plains of the Yamunâ (Jumna) and Ganga (Ganges). Numerous special coincidences, both of language and mythology, be tween the Vedic Aryans and the peoples of Iran also show that these two members of the Indo-Germanic family must have remained in close connexion for some considerable period after the others had separated from them.

The origin of comparative philology dates from the time when European scholars became accurately acquainted with the ancient language of India. Before that time classical scholars had been unable, through centuries of learned research, to determine the true relations between the then known languages of our stock. This fact alone shows the importance of Sanskrit for comparative research. Though its value in this respect has perhaps at times been overrated, it may still be considered as the eldest daughter of the old mother-tongue. Indeed, so far as direct documentary evidence goes, it may rather be said to be the only surviving daughter; for none of the other six principal members of the family have left any literary monuments, and their original features have to be reproduced, as best they can, from the materials supplied by their own daughter languages: such is the case as regards the Iranic, Hellenic, Italic, Celtic, Teutonic, and Letto-Slavic languages. To the Sanskrit the antiquity and extent of its literary documents, the transparency of its grammatical structure, the comparatively primitive state of its accent system, and the thorough grammatical treatment it has early received at the hand of native scholars must ever secure the foremost place in the comparative study of Indo-Germanic speech.

Alphabet.

Vowels.

Conson

ants.

Phonetic

palatal: c ch j jh ñ
lingual: th d dh n
dental t th d dh n

labial: p ph b bh m;

Four semivowels.: y r l v (w);

Three sibilants: palatal ś, lingual şħ, dental s; and
A soft aspirate: h

(c) Three unoriginal sounds, viz. :—

visarga (h), a hard aspirate, standing mostly for original s or r; and two nasal sounds of less close contact than the mute-nasals, viz., anusvâra (m) and anunâsika (m). As regards the vowels, a prominent feature of the language is the prevalence of a-sounds, these being about twice as frequent as all the others, including diphthongs, taken together (Whitney). The absence of the short vowels ĕ and Ŏ from the Sanskrit alphabet, and the fact that Sanskrit shows the a-vowel where other vowels appear in other languages,-e.g., bharantam pépovra, ferentem; Janas yévos, genus,-were formerly considered as strong evidence in favour of the more primitive state of the Sanskrit vowel system as compared with that of the sister languages. Recent research has, however, shown pretty conclusively from certain indications in the Sanskrit language itself that the latter must at one time have possessed the same, or very nearly the same, three vowel-sounds, and that the differentiation of the original a-sound must, therefore, have taken place before the separation of the languages.

The vowels é and 6, though apparently simple sounds, are classed as diphthongs, being contracted from original ai and ău respectively, and liable to be treated as such in the phonetic modifications they have to undergo before any vowel except ǎ.

As regards the consonants, two of the five series of mutes, the palatal and lingual series, are of secondary (the one of Indo-Iranian, the other of purely Indian) growth.

The palatals are, as a rule, derived from original gutturals, the modification being generally due to the influence of a neighbouring palatal sound i or y, or ě (ä): e.g., carati-Lat. currit; janu yóvu, genu, knee. The surd aspirate ch, in words of Indo-Germanic origin, almost invariably goes back to original sk: e.g.. chid(chind-)-scindo, oxísw; chaya – okiά.

The palatal sibilant & (pronounced sh) likewise originated from a guttural mute k, but one of somewhat different phonetic value from that represented by Sanskrit k or c. The latter, usually designated by k2 (or q), is frequently liable to labialization (or dentalization) in Greek, probably owing to an original pronunciation kw (qu) e.g., katara-TÓTEpos, uter; while the former (1) shows invariably * in Greek, and a sibilant in the Letto-Slavic and the Indo-Iranian languages e.g., svan (sun)-kówv (KUV), canis, Germ. hund; dasan-déna, decem, Goth. tainun.

The non-original nature of the palatals betrays itself even in Sanskrit by their inability to occur at the end of a word, -e.g., acc. vácam Lat. vocem, but nom. vák vox,-and by otherwise frequently reverting to the guttural state. The linguals differ in pronunciation from the dentals in their being uttered with the tip of the tongue turned up to the dome of the palate, while in the utterance of the dentals it is pressed against the upper teeth, not against the upper gums as is done in the English dentals, which to Hindus sound more like their own linguals. The latter, when occurring in words of Aryan origin, are, as a rule, modifications of original dentals, usually accom. panied by the loss of an r or other adjoining consonant; but more commonly they occur in words of foreign, probably non-Aryan, origin. Of regular occurrence in the language, however, is the change of dental n into lingual, and of dental s into lingual sh, when preceded in the same word by certain other letters.

8

The sonant aspirate h is likewise non-original, being usually derived from original sonant aspirated mutes, especially gh: a.g., hamsaxhy (for xavs), anser, Germ. gans; aham – ¿ywv, ego, Goth. ik.

The contact of final and initial letters of words in the same senchanges. tence is often attended in Sanskrit with considerable euphonic modifications; and we have no means of knowing how far the practice of the vernacular language may have corresponded to these phonetic theories. There can be no doubt, however, that a good deal in this respect has to be placed to the account of grammatical reflexion; and the very facilities which the primitive structure of the language offered for grammatical analysis and an insight into the principles of internal modification may have given the first impulse to external modifications of a similar kind.

None of the cognate languages exhibits in so transparent a

manner as the Sanskrit the cardinal principle of Indo-Germanic word-formation by the addition of inflexional endings either caseendings or personal terminations (themselves probably original roots)-to stems obtained, mainly by means of suffixes, from monosyllabic roots, with or without internal modifications.

There are in Sanskrit declension three numbers and seven cases, Declan not counting the vocative, viz., nominative, accusative, instru- sion. mental, dative, ablative, genitive and locative. As a matter of fact, all these seven cases appear, however, only in the singular of a-stems and of the pronominal declension. Other noun-stems have only one case-form for the ablative and genitive singular. In the plural, the ablative everywhere shares its form with the dative (except in the personal pronoun, where it has the same ending as in the singular), whilst the dual shows only three different caseforms-one for the nominative and accusative, another for the

instrumental, dative, and ablative, and a third for the genitive and

locative.

The declension of a-stems, corresponding to the first and second Latin declensions, is, of especial interest, not so much on account of its being predominant from the earliest time, and becoming more and more so with the development of the language, but because it presents the greatest number of alternative forms, which supply a kind of test for determining the age of literary productions, a test which indeed has already been applied to some extent by Professor Lanman, in his excellent Statistical Account of Noun Infiexion in the Veda. These alternative case-forms are :

(1) asas and as for the nominative plural masc. and fem.: e.g., aśvásas and aśvás-equi (eque). The forms in asas,-explained by Bopp as the sign of the plural as applied twice, and by Schleicher as the sign of the plural as added to the nominative singular,— occur to those in as (i.e., the ordinary plural sign as added to the a-stem) in the Rigveda in tresproportion of 1 to 2, and in the peculiar parts of the Atharvaveda in that of 1 to 25, whilst the ending as alone remains in the later language.

(2) A and ani for the nominative and accusative plural of neuters: as yuga, yugani-Svyd, juga. The proportion of the former ending to the latter in the Rik is 11 to 7, in the Atharvan 2 to 3, whilst the classical Sanskrit knows only the second form.

(8) êbhis and dis for the instrumental plural masc. and neuter: e.g., devêbhis, deváis. In the Rik the former forms are to the latter in the proportion of 5 to 6, in the Atharvan of 1 to 5, while in the later language only the contracted form is used. The same contraction is found in other languages; but it is doubtful whether it did not originate independently in them.

(4) á and du for the nominative and accusative dual masc.: e.g., uhhá, ubhâu - auow. In the Rik forms in & outnumber those in du, more than eight times; whilst in the Atharvan, on the contrary, those in au (the only ending used in the classical language) occur five times as often as those in a.

(5) a and ena (end) for the instrumental singular masc. and neut.: as dana, danena-dono. The ending ena is the one invariably used in the later language. It is likewise the usual form in the Veda; but in a number of cases it shows a final long vowel which, though it may be entirely due to metrical requirements, is more probably a relic of the normal instrumental ending a, preserved for prosodic reasons. For the simple ending a, as compared with that in ena, Prof. Lanman makes out a proportion of about 1 to 9 in the Rigveda (altogether 114 cases); while in the peculiar parts of the Atharvan he finds only 11 cases.

(6) âm and &nam for the genitive plural: e.gi, (asoâm), aspanam -Iππ∞ν, equum (equorum). The form with inserted nasal (doubtless for anam, as in Zend aśpanam), which is exclusively used in the later language, is also the prevailing one in the Rik. There are, however, a few genitives of a-stems in original âm (for a-âm), which also appear in Zend, Prof. Lanman enumerating a dozen instances, some of which are, however, doubtful, while others are merely conjectural.

The Sanskrit verb system resembles that of the Greek in variety Ver and completeness. While the Greek excels in nicety and definite- syste ness of modal distinction, the Sanskrit surpasses it in primitiveness and transparency of formation. In this part of the grammatical system there is, however, an even greater difference than in the noun inflexion between the Vedic and the classical Sanskrit. While the former shows, upon the whole, the full complement of modal forms exhibited by the Greek, the later language has prac tically discarded the subjunctive mood. The Indo-Aryans never succeeded in working out a clear formative distinction between the subjunctive and indicative moods; and, their syntactic requirements becoming more and more limited, they at last contented themselves, for modal expression, with a present optative and imperative, in addition to the indicative tense-forms, and a little-used aorist optative with a special "precative" or benedictive" meaning attached to it.

Another part of the verb in which the later language differs widely from Vedic usage is the infinitive. The language of the old hymns shows a considerable variety of case-forms of verbal abstract nouns with the function of infinitives, a certain number of which

Accentuation.

pro

combination ar and ai respectively, and, by a repetition of the same process, to the (vṛiddhi) sounds ái, âu, âr, and al respectively. Thus from root vid, to know," we have véda, "knowledge," and therefrom vaidika; from yug, yoga, yâúgika. While the interchange of the former kind, due mainly to accentual causes, was undoubtedly a common feature of Indo-Germanic speech, the latter, or vriddhi-change, which chiefly occurs in secondary stems, bably a later development. Moreover, there can be no doubt that the vṛiddhi-vowels are really due to what the term implies, viz., to a process of "increment," or vowel-raising. The same was universally assumed by comparative philologists till a few years ago, as regards the relation between the guna-sounds ăi (é) and ău (6) and the respective simple - and u-sounds. According to a recent theory, however, which has already received a considerable amount of acceptance, we are henceforth to look upon the heavier vowels as the original, and upon the lighter vowels as the later sounds, produced through the absence of stress and pitch. The grounds on which this theory is recommended are those of logical consistency. In the analogous cases of interchange between ? and ar, as well as and al, most scholars have indeed been wont to regard the syllabic r and as weakened from original ar and al, while the native grammarians represent the latter as produced from the former by increment. Similarly the verb as (es), "to be," loses its vowel wherever the radical syllable is unaccented: e.g., ásti, Lat. est-smás, s(u)mus; opt. syam, Lat. siem (sim). For other analogous cases of vowel-change, see PHILOLOGY, vol. xviii. p. 783 sq. On the strength of these analogous cases of vowel-modification we are, therefore, to accept some such equation as this:asmi: smás = δέρκομαι : ἔδρ(α)κον = λείπω : λιπεῖν

—émi (eîμı): imás (tuev for iμév) = φεύγω : φυγεῖν ➡dóhmi (I milk): duhmás.

Acquiescence in this equation would seem to involve at least one important admission, viz., that original root-syllables contained no simple - and u-vowels, except as the second element of the diphthongs ai, ei, oi; au, eu, ou. We ought no longer to speak of the roots vid, "to know," dik, "to show, to bid," dhugh," to milk," yug, to join," but of vcid, deik, dhaugh or dheugh, yeug, &c. Nay, as the same law would apply with equal force to suffixal vowels, the suffix nu would have to be called nau or neu; and, in explaining, for instance, the irregularly formed delkvūμı, deíkvůμev, we might say that, by the affixion of vev to the root SEIK, the present-stem dive was obtained (diveûu), which, as the stress was shifted forward, became 1 plur. divvμéo(),-the subsequent modifications in the radical and formative syllables being due to the effects of "analogy" (cf. G. Meyer, Griech. Gramm., § 487). Now, if there be any truth in the "agglutination " theory, according to which the radical and formative elements of Indo-Germanic speech were at one time independent words, we would have to be prepared for a pretty liberal allowance, to the parent language, of diphthongal monosyllables such as deik neu, while simple combinations such as dik nu could only spring up after separate syllable-words had become united by the force of a common accent. But, whether the agglutinationists be right or wrong, a theory involving the priority of the diphthongal over the simple sounds can hardly be said to be one of great prima facie probability; and one may well ask whether the requirements of logical consistency might not be satisfied in some other, less improbable, way.

Now, the analogous cases which have called forth this theory turn upon the loss of a radical or suffixal a (e), occasioned by the shifting of the word-accent to some other syllable: e.g., acc. máláram, instr. mátrá; Tétouaι, ¿πтóμпy; déρкoμaι, edр(a)кov; ásmi, smás. Might we not then assume that at an early stage of noun and verb inflexion, through the giving way, under certain conditions, of the stem a (e), the habit of stem-gradation, as an element of inflexion, came to establish itself and ultimately to extend its sphere over stems with - and u-vowels, but that, on meeting here with more resistance than in the a (e)-vowel, the stem-gradation then took the shape of a raising of the simple vowel, in the "strong" cases. and verb-forms, by that same aelement which constituted the distinctive element of those cases in the other variable stems? In this way the above equation would still hold good, and the corresponding vowel-grades, though of somewhat different genesis, would yet be strictly analogous.

The accent of Sanskrit words is marked only in the more important Vedic texts, .different systems of notation being used in different works. Our knowledge of the later accentuation of words is entirely derived from the statements of grammarians. As in Greek, there are three accents, the udalta ("raised," i.e., acute), the anudatta ("not raised," ie., grave), and the svarita ("sounded, modulated,” i.e.; circumflex). The last is a combination of the two others,

1 We might compare the different treatment in Sanskrit of an and in bases (múrdháni-murdhná; vádíni-vádíná); for, though the latter are doubtless of later origin, their inflexion might have been influenced by that of the former. Also a comparison of such forms as (devá) devánám, (agní) agnínám, and (dhenu) dhenûnám, tells in favour of the f- und u-vowels, as regards power of resistance, inasmuch as it does not require the accent in order to remain intact.

its proper use being confined almost entirely to a vowel preceded by a semivowel y or v, representing an original acuted vowel. Hindu scholars, however, also include in this term the accent of a grave syllable preceded by an acuted syllable, and itself followed' by a grave.

The Sanskrit and Greek accentuations present numerous coincidences. Although the Greek rule, confining the accent within the last three syllables, has frequently obliterated the original likeness, the old features may often be traced through the later forms. Thus, though augmented verb-forms in Greek cannot always have the accent on the augment as in Sanskrit, they have it invariably as little removed from it as the accentual restrictions will allow: c.g., ábharam, epepov; ábharâma, ¿pépoμev; ábharâmahi, ἐφερόμεθα.

"

The most striking coincidence in noun declension is the accentual distinction made by both languages between the "strong' and "weak' cases of monosyllabic nouns, -the only difference in this respect being that in Sanskrit the accusative plural, as a rule, has the accent on the case-ending, and consequently shows the weak form of the stem: e.g., stem pad, rod; pádam, móda; padús, ποδός ; ραλί, ποδί ; γάλας, πόδες ; ραλάς, πόδας ; padam, ποδών ; patsú, Tool. In Sanskrit a few other classes of stems (especially present participles in ant, at), accented on the last syllable, are apt to yield their accent to heavy vowel (not consonantal) terminations; compare the analogous accentuation of Sanskrit and Greek stems in tár: pitáram, πarépa; pilré, maτpós; pitáras, πatépes; pitṛshu, natp(á)σi.

The vocative, when heading a sentence (or verse-division), has invariably the accent on the first syllable; otherwise it is not accented.

Finite verb-forms also, as a rule, lose their accent, except when standing at the beginning of a sentence or verse-division (a vocative not being taken into account), or in dependent (mostly relative) clauses, or in conjunction with certain particles. Of two or more co-ordinate verb-forms, however, only the first is unaccented.

In writing Sanskrit the natives, in different parts of India, Written generally employ the particular character used for writing their own charvernacular. The character, however, most widely understood and acters. employed by Hindu scholars, and used invariably in European editions of Sanskrit works (unless printed in Roman letters) is the so-called Devanagari, or nagari ("town"-script) of the gods.

The origin of the Indian alphabets is still enveloped in doubt. The oldest hitherto known specimens of Indian writing are five rock-inscriptions, containing religious edicts in Pâli (the Prakrit used in the Buddhist scriptures), issued by the emperor Asoka (Piyadasi) of the Maurya dynasty, in 253-251 B.C., and scattered over the area of northern India from the vicinity of Peshawar, on the north-west frontier, and Girnar in Guzerat, to Jaugada and Dhauli in Katak, on the eastern coast. The most western of these inscriptions-called, from villages near it, the Kapurdagarhi or Shâhbâz-garhi inscription-is executed in a different alphabet from the others. It reads from right to left, and is usually called the Arian Pali alphabet, it being also used on the coins of the Greek and Indo-Soythian princes of Ariana; while the other, which reads from left to right, is called the Indian Pâli alphabet. The former, which is manifestly derived from a Semitic (probably Aramæan) source, has left no traces on the subsequent development of Indian writing. The Indo-Pâli alphabet, on the other hand, from which the modern Indian alphabets are derived, is of uncertain origin. The similarity, however, which several of its letters present to those of the old Phoenician alphabet (itself probably derived from the Egyptian hieroglyphics) suggests for this alphabet also-or at least for the germ of it-the probability of a Semitic origin, though, already at Asoka's time, the Indians had worked it up to a high degree of perfection and wonderfully adapted it to their peculiar scientific ends. As to the probable time and channel of its introduction, no satisfactory theory has yet been proposed. Considering, however, the high state of perfection it exhibits in the Maurya and Andhra inscriptions, as well as the wide area over which these are scattered, it can hardly be doubted that the art of writing must have been known to and practised by the Indians for various purposes long before the time of Aśoka. The fact that no reference to it is found in the contemporary literature has probably to be accounted for by a strong reluctance on the part of the Brahmans to commit their sacred works to writing. A useful 1sumé of the various theories proposed on this subject will be found in a paper contributed by Mr R. Cust to the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, new series, vol. xvi

The invention of the numeral figures, which used to be generally ascribed to the Indians, has also been rendered doubtful by more recent research.

An excellent Sanskrit grammar, dealing with the_language historically, has been published by Prof. W. D. Whitney: Of other English grammars, dealing almost exclusively with the classical Sanskrit, those of Profs. Max Müller. Monier Williams, and F. Klelhorn are now most widely used.

The best dictionary is the great Sanskrit-German Wörterbucn, published at St Petersburg, in 7 vols., by Profs. Böhtlingk and Roth. Largely based on this great thesaurus are the Sanskrit-English dictionaries by Prof. M. Williams and the late Prof.-Th. Benfey.

The history of Sanskrit literature labours under the same disadvantage as the political history of ancient India, from the total want of anything like a fixed chronology. As there are extremely few well-ascertained political facts until comparatively recent times, so in that whole vast range of literary development there is scarcely a work of importance the date of which scholars have succeeded in fixing with absolute certainty. The original composition of most Sanskrit works can indeed be confidently assigned to certain general periods of literature, but as to many of them, and these among the most important, scholars have but too much reason to doubt whether they have come down to us in their original shape, or whether they have not rather, in course of time, undergone alterations and additions so serious as to make it impossible to regard them as genuine witnesses of any one phase of the development of the Indian mind. Nor can we expect many important chronological data from the new materials which will doubtless yet be brought to light in India. Though by such discoveries a few isolated spots may indeed be lighted up here and there, the real task of clearing away the mist which at present obscures our view, if ever it can be cleared away, will have to be performed by patient research-by a more minute critical examination of the multitudinous writings which have been handed down from the remote past. In the following sketch it is intended to take a rapid view of the more important works and writers in the several departments of literature. In accordance with the two great phases of linguistic development above referred to, the history of Sanskrit literature readily divides itself into two principal periods, the Vedic and the classical. It should, however, be noted that these periods partly overlap each other, and that some of the later Vedic works are included in that period on account of the subjects with which they deal, and for their archaic style, rather than for any just claim to a higher antiquity than may have to be assigned to the oldest works of the classical Sanskrit.

I. THE VEDIC PERIOD.1

The term veda-i.e., "knowledge," (sacred) "lore" embraces a body of writings the origin of which is ascribed to divine revelation (éruti, literally "hearing"), and which forms the foundation of the Brahmanical system of religious belief. This sacred canon is divided into three or (according to a later scheme) four coordinate collections, likewise called Veda :-(1) the Rigveda, or lore of praise (or hymns); (2) the Sáma-veda, or lore of lore of praise (or hymns); (2) the Sama-veda, or lore of tunes (or chants); (3) the Yajurveda, or lore of prayer; and (4) the Atharva-veda, or lore of the Atharvans. Samhitis. Each of these four Vedas consists primarily of a collection (samhita) of sacred, mostly poetical, texts of a devotional nature, called mantra. This entire body of texts (and particularly the first three collections) is also frequently referred to as the trayî vidya, or threefold wisdom, of hymn (rich), tune or chant (saman), and prayer (yajus), the fourth Veda, if at all included, being in that case classed together with the Rik.

Classes of

The Brahmanical religion finds its practical expression priests. chiefly in sacrificial performances. The Vedic sacrifice requires for its proper performance the attendance of four officiating priests, each of whom is assisted by one or 1 J. Muir's Original Sanskrit Texts, 5 vols., 2d ed., forms the most complete general survey of the results of Vedic research. 3 The combination ch, used (in conformity with the usual English practice) in this sketch of the literature, corresponds to the simple c in the scheme of the alphabet, p. 270.

more (usually three) subordinate priests, viz.:-(1) the Hotar (i.e., either "sacrificer," or "invoker"), whose chief business is to invoke the gods, either in short prayers pronounced over the several oblations, or in liturgical recitations (sastra), made up of various hymns and detached verses; (2) the Udgatar, or chorister, who has to perform chants (stotra) in connexion with the hotar's recitations; (3) the Adhvaryu, or offering priest par excellence, who performs all the material duties of the sacrifice, such as the kindling of the fires, the preparation of the sacrificial ground and the offerings, the making of oblations, &c.; (4) the Brahman, or chief "priest," who has to superintend the performance and to rectify any mistakes that may be committed. Now, the first three of these priests stand in special relation to three of the Vedic Samhitâs in this way, that the Samhitâs of the Sâmaveda and Yajurveda for special song and prayer books, arranged for the practical use of the udgâtar and adhvaryu respectively; whilst the Rik-samhita, though not arranged for any such practical purpose, contains the entire body of sacred lyrics whence the hotar draws the material for his recitations. The brahman, on the other hand, had no special text-book assigned to him, but was expected to be familiar with all the Samhitâs as well as with the practical details of the sacrificial performance. In point of fact, however, the brahmans, though their attendance at Vedic sacrifices was required, can scarcely be said to have formed a separate class of priests: their office was probably one which might be held by any priest of the three other classes who had acquired the necessary qualification by additional study of the other Samhitas and manuals of ritual. In later times, when the votaries of the fourth Veda pressed for recognition of their Samhita as part of the sacred canon, the brahman priest was claimed by them as specially connected with the Atharvaveda. It is perhaps for this reason that the latter is also called the Brahmaveda,—though this designation may also be taken to mean the Veda of spells or secret doctrines (brahman). It sometimes happens that verses not found' in our version of the Rik-samhitâ, but in the Atharvaveda-samhita, are used by the hotar; but such texts, if they did not actually form part of some other version of the Rik,-as Sâyana in the introduction to his commentary on the Rik-samhitâ assures us that they did,—were probably inserted in the liturgy subsequent to the recognition of the fourth Veda.

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The several Samhitâs have attached to them certain Braktheological prose works, called Brahmana, which, though mânus subordinate in authority to the Mantras or Samhitas, are like them held to be divinely revealed and to form part of the canon. The chief works of this class are of an exegetic nature, their purport being to supply a dogmatic exposiclass of priests for whose enlightenment the Brahmana is tion of the sacrificial ceremonial in so far as the particular intended is concerned in it. Notwithstanding the uninteresting character of no small part of their contents, the Brahmanas are of considerable importance, both as regards the history of Indian institutions and as the oldest body of Indo-European prose, of a generally free, vigorous, simple form, affording valuable glimpses backward at the primitive condition of unfettered Indo-European talk." (Whitney).

More or less closely connected with the Brahmanas (and Aranin a few exceptional cases with Samhitas) are two classes yakas an of treatises, called Aranyaka and Upanishad. The Aran- Upaniyakas, i.e., works "relating to the forest," being intended to be read by those who have retired from the world and

shads.