A History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, so far as it illustrates the Primitive Religion of the Brahmans c8.4

c8.4

amongst the Pandits¹, that "an author rejoiceth in the economising of half a short vowel as much as in the birth of a son." Every doctrine thus propounded, whether grammar, metre, law, or philosophy, is reduced to a mere skeleton. All the important points and joints of a system are laid open with the greatest precision and clearness, but there is nothing in these works like connection or development of ideas. "Even the apparent simplicity of the design vanishes," as Colebrooke remarks, "in the perplexity of the structure. The endless pursuit of exceptions and limitations so disjoins the general precepts, that the reader cannot keep in view their intended connection and mutual relation. He wanders in an intricate maze, and the clew of the labyrinth is continually slipping from his hands." There is no life and no spirit in these Sûtras, except what either a teacher or a running commentary, by which these works are usually accompanied, may impart to them.