History of Classical Sanskrit Literature c5.2

c5.2

1. **The sacred literature of India,** inferior to none in variety or extent, is superior to many in nobility of thought, in sanctity of spirit and in generality of comprehension. In beauty or prolixity, it can vie with any other literature ancient and modern. Despite the various impediments to the steady development of the language, despite the successive disturbances, internal and external, which India had to encounter ever since the dawn of history, she has successfully held up to the world her archaic literary map, which meagre outline itself favourably compares with the literature of any other nation of the globe. The beginnings of her civilization are yet in obscurity. Relatively to any other language of the ancient world, the antiquity of Sanskrit has an unquestioned priority. "Yet such is the marvellous continuity" says Max Muller "between the past and the present of India, that in spite of repeated social convulsions, religious reforms and foreign invasions, sanskrit may be said to be still the only language that is spoken over the whole extent of the vast country.¹ So says M. Winternitz: "Sanskrit is not a 'dead' language even to day. There are still at the present day a number of Sanskrit periodicals in India, and topics of the day are discussed in Sanskrit pamphlets. Also, the Mahabharata is still today read aloud publicity, To this very day poetry is still composed and works written in Sanskrit, and it is the language in which Indian scholars converse upon scientific questions. Sanskrit at the least plays the same part in India still, as Latin in the Middle Ages in Europe, or as Hebrew with the Jews."²