[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Indian literature](https://indike.org/pramana/in) › [Dark Ages](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages) › [Kashmir](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir) › [Tārīkh-i Rashīdī](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi) › [The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross)](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross) › 8.2.7 # The Rashīdī History 8.2.7 The Tarikh-i-Rashidi (Elias, Ross) 8.2.7 - **Language:** English ### [8.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.2.7) while Professor von der Gabelentz has shown that, in spite of a slight mixture of Persian words, their language is still strictly Mongolian, or more particularly, West Mongolian — i.e., Kalmuk. On the general question of the rise and decay of languages, enough is known of the process which a nation has to go through before it can completely change its tongue, to justify the belief that a very long period is needed for the transfer to become finally accomplished. The first step is that the people should become bi-lingual — that the mass of them (not a few of the chiefs) should come to use both the old and the new language with equal facility — and this alone is a process requiring many generations. The next step is that the old language should fall into disuse and be forgotten. The second stage may, perhaps, take less time to work itself out than the first; but it must, nevertheless, require a period measured in generations. Thus, when we consider that a century (according to the usual computation) embraces only about three generations, it must be regarded as improbable that the tribes which were pure Mongols at the end of the thirteenth century should have become the pure Turks they are sometimes represented, at the period dealt with by our author. The Russian savant Gmelin, who travelled in Central Asia in the last century, is emphatic in stating his belief in the permanency of the Mongol race in general, as far as physical attributes are concerned. - [Previous: 8.2.6](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.2.6) - [Next: 8.2.8](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.2.8) - [Up: 8.2](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.2) --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.2.7](https://indike.org/pramana/in.darkages.kashmir.tarikh-i-rashidi~en-ross.8.2.7) · Pramāṇa