Indian Palaeography from about B.C. 350 to about A.D. 1300 c6.s2.t1.9

c6.s2.t1.9

But such Brahmanical works as the Epics, Purāṇas, Kāvyaṣ, dramas, &c., which describe actual life, or the metrical law-books which fully teach not only the sacred but also the civil and criminal law, as well as compositions such as the Nīti-, Nāṭya-, and Kāma-śāstras which exclusively refer to worldly matters, contain numerous references to writing and to written documents of various kinds, and likewise evidence for the occurrence of MSS. of literary works. Unfortunately, however, it is not possible to assert of any of the existing books of these classes, — excepting the two Epics, — that they are older than the period to which the oldest inscriptions belong. And even the evidence of the Epics may be impugned, since we cannot prove that every word of their texts goes back to a high antiquity. Professor JACOBI's examination of the several recensions of the Rāmāyaṇa has shown that the greater part of the verses, now read, did not belong to the original poem.² As far as is known at present, the MSS. of the Mahābhārata do not show equally great variations. But the existence of the majority of its chapters can be proved only for the eleventh century A. D.³ Though the testimony of the Epics can, therefore, only be used with due reserve, yet it is undeniable that their terms regarding writing and writers are archaic. Like the canonical works of the Southern Buddhists,⁴ they use the ancient expressions *likh*, *lekha*, *lekhaka*, and *lekhana*, not the probably foreign word *lipi*.