A History of Sanskrit Literature c7.s2.42

c7.s2.42

The results which we have attained are in accord with the evidence afforded by Greek renderings of Indian terms.² These are neither wholly based on Sanskrit forms nor on Prākrit. Derived doubtless from the speech now of the upper, now of the lower classes, they remind us of the salient fact that at any given moment in India there were in active use several forms of speech varying according to the class of society. The denial of the vernacular character of Sanskrit³ rests largely on a failure to realize the true point at issue, on a confusion between the earlier period when Sanskrit was far more close to the speech of the lower classes and later times, or on the fallacious view that the only speech which deserves the style of a vernacular must be the language of the lower classes of the population. Still less plausible is the suggestion¹ that Sanskrit as a vernacular was preserved in Kashmir during its eclipse in India generally, a view which has no support either in tradition or in the form of the Kashmirian vernacular. What we do find is that the Buddhism which penetrated Kashmir was strongly influenced by Mathurā, where the new faith had fallen into the hands of men trained in the Brahmanical schools, who applied their own language to the propagation of the faith. We have in this one more proof of the hold which Sanskrit had in Brahmanical circles, and of the obvious fact that it was far better fitted as a language of theology and philosophy than Ardhamāgadhī or any similar dialect.