A History of the Mahrattas v1.c5.s4.50

v1.c5.s4.50

At times there has been a certain reaction against the new type of literature arising from closer contact with Western thought and methods of education, and this has manifested itself in the reproduction of the older Marāthī literature, both religious and historical, and in the publication of commentaries and explanations thereof. But speaking generally, in the words of Professor Patvardhan, ‘the impact with Western people, Western institutions and Western literatures, the growing acquaintance and association of the East and the West, have already produced salutary results, and the present-day literature of Mahārāshtra is certainly tending towards the Western type.’ Like other Prākrits, Marāthī, as Professor J. Sarkar points out (*Shivaji and His Times*, p. 15), had no literary prose till well into the eighteenth century, and the prose that was created by the official classes in their letters and chronicles was a barbarous jargon, composed mainly of Persian words and idioms. ‘The Sanskritised, elegant and varied prose that is now used is a creation of the British period.’