History of Mediaeval Hindu India (being a History of India from 600 to 1200 A.D.) v1.c20.11

v1.c20.11

∗ The Greek language was undoubtedly once spoken in India as we have shown elsewhere that the Greek word 'Syrinx' or Suranga is used in the Mahābhārata itself and that Vidura speaks in Greek probably when he cautions Yudhishthira in a Mlechha language against residing in the inflammable house at Vāranāvata built for them. Latin too may have been understood in India in the first century A. D. when Rome had commercial connection with India especially the south and when the Roman coin the Dinar became current in India. Pārasīka as the language of the Persians who often conquered Sind upto the Indus, may also be well-known. But what is Barbara? The word is indeed a puzzle. The Greeks use the word 'Barbarians' for all Mlechhas and so also the Indo-Aryans speak of a Mlechha people by name Barbara. But Barbara occurs in history as the name of an African people and these could not have come into contact with the Indo-Aryans. Probably the African Ethiopians traded in centuries preceding Christ with India and the name continued to be applied to the Arabs who certainly traded with India for many centuries and who in the 8th century A. D. conquered Sind. The Prakrit writer of the 8th century therefore refers to the Arabic language when he mentions the Barbara as the fourth Mlechha language understood or current in India.