The History of Indian Literature c9.7

c9.7

Among the various dialects of the different Indo-Aryan tribes, a greater unity had in the course of time been established after their immigration into India, as the natural result of their intermingling in their new homes, and of their combination into larger communities. The grammaticaln∗ study, moreover, which by degrees became necessary for the interpretation of the ancient texts, and which grew up in connection therewith, had had the effect of substantially fixing the usage; so that a generally recognised language, known as the *bháshá*, had arisen, that, namely, in which the Bráhmaṇas and Sútras are composed.n† Now the greater the advance made by the study of grammar, the more stringent and precise its precepts and rules became, and all the more difficult it was for those who did not occupy themselves specially therewith to keep in constant accord with grammatical accuracy. The more the language of the grammatically educated gained on the one hand in purity, and in being purged of everything not strictly regular, the more foreign did it become on the other hand to the usage of the majority of the people, who were without grammatical training. In this way a refined language gradually disconnected itself from the vernacular, as more and more the exclusive property of the higher classes of the people;n‡ the estrangement between the two growing more and more marked, as the popular dialect in its turn underwent further development. This took place mainly under the influence of those aboriginal inhabitants who had been received into the Brahmanic community; who, it is true, little by little exchanged their own language for that of their conquerors, but not without importing into the latter a large number of new words and of phonetic changes, and, in particular, very materially modifying the pronunciation. This last was all the more necessary, as the numerous accumulations of consonants in the Aryan *bháshá* presented exceeding difficulties to the natives; and it was all the easier, as there had evidently prevailed within the language itself from an early period a tendency to clear away these troublesome encumbrances of speech,—a tendency to which, indeed, the study of grammar imposed a limit, so far as the educated portion of the Aryans was concerned, but which certainly maintained itself, and by the very nature of the case continued to spread amongst the people at large. This tendency was naturally furthered by the native inhabitants, particularly as they acquired the language not from those who were conversant with grammar, but from intercourse and association with the general body of the people. In this way there gradually arose new vernaculars, proceeding directly from the common *bháshá*,[^asterisk] and distinguished from it mainly by the assimilation of consonants, and by