Elements of South-Indian Palæography, from the Fourth to the Seventeenth Century A.D. c4.31

c4.31

In all the earlier Sanskrit works there is very little, if any, reference to writing, and the preference for oral teaching exhibited by them is very marked; in fact the Brahman seem to have regarded the writing of any of their sacred or grammatical works as a deadly sin. But in the mediæval treatises it is evident that this most useful of arts had gained recognition in spite of priestly fanaticism and exclusiveness. Thus the earliest Sanskrit treatise on prosody which is attributed to Piṅgala contains nothing that can be held to imply the use of writing; the later imitation which describes the Prakṛit metres, however, contains a sūtra which proves the use of writing at the time it was composed⁵); so also does the recent (13th century) grammar, the Mugdabodha.