[Pramāṇa](https://indike.org/pramana/) › [Studies](https://indike.org/pramana/ins) › [Literature, language and dating](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature) › [The History of Indian Literature](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878) › c8.21 # The History of Indian Literature c8.21 The History of Indian Literature c8.21 - **Language:** English ### [c8.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878.c8.21) ∗ The word Sútra in the above sense occurs first in the Madhukáṇḍa, one of the latest supplements to the Bráhmaṇa of the White Yajus, next in the two Gṛihya-Sútras of the Ṛik, and finally in Páṇini. It means ‘thread,’ ‘band,’ cf. Lat. \*suere\*. Would it be correct to regard it as an expression analogous to the German \*band\* (volume)? If so, the term would have to be understood of the fastening together of the leaves, and would necessarily presuppose the existence of writing (in the same way, perhaps, as \*grantha\* does, a term first occurring in Páṇini?). Inquiry into the origin of Indian writing has not, unfortunately, led to much result as yet. The oldest inscriptions, according to Wilson, date no earlier than the third century b.c. Nearchus, however, as is well known, mentions writing, and his time corresponds very well upon the whole to the period to which we must refer the origin of the Sútras. But as these were composed chiefly with a view to their being committed to memory—a fact which follows from their form, and partly accounts for it—there might be good grounds for taking exception to the etymology just proposed, and for regarding the signification ‘guiding-line,’ ‘clue,’ as the original one. \[This is the meaning given in the St. Petersburg Dictionary.—The writing of the Indians is of Semitic origin; see Benfey, \*Indien\* (in \*Ersch and Gruber's Encyclopædia\*, 1840), p. 254; my \*Indische Skizzen\* (1856), p. 127, ff.; Burnell, \*Elem. of South Indian Pal.\*, p. 3, ff. Probably it served in the first instance merely for secular purposes, and was only applied subsequently to literature. See Müller, \*Anc. S. Lit.\*, p. 507; \*I. St.\*, v. 20, ff.; \*I. Str.\*, ii. 339. Goldstücker (\*Páṇini\*, 1860, p. 26, ff.) contends that the words \*sútra\* and \*grantha\* must absolutely be connected with writing. See, however, \*I. St.\*, v. 24, ff.; xiii. 476.\]—Nor does etymology lead us to a more certain result in the case of another word found in this connection, viz., \*akshara\*, ‘syllable.’ This word does not seem to occur in this sense in the Saṃhitá of the Ṛik (or Sáman); it there rather signifies ‘imperishable.’ The connecting link between this primary signification and the meaning ‘syllable,’ which is first met with in the Saṃhitá of the Yajus, might perhaps be the idea of writing, the latter being the making imperishable, as it were, of otherwise fleeting and evanescent words and syllables (?). Or is the notion of the imperishable λόγος at the root of this signification? \[In the \*Errata\* to the first German edition it was pointed out, on the authority of a communication received from Professor Aufrecht, that \*akshara\* is twice used in the Ṛik of the 'measuring of speech,' viz., i. 164. 24 (47), and ix. 13. 3, and consequently may there mean 'syllable.' According to the St. Petersburg Dictionary, this latter meaning is to be derived from the idea of 'the constant, simple' element in language.\] - [Previous: c8.20](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878.c8.20) - [Next: c8.22](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878.c8.22) - [Up: c8](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878.c8) ## Linked texts (1) - [Ṛgvedasaṃhitā](https://indike.org/pramana/in.veda.samhita.rg.1.164.24) — Sanskrit --- Source: [https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878.c8.21](https://indike.org/pramana/ins.literature.weber-1878.c8.21) · Pramāṇa