The Religion and Philosophy of the Veda and Upanishads v2.c39.s5.53

v2.c39.s5.53

It is significant that contemporaneously we find the science of grammar alone in process of development; the Brāhmaṇas show knowledge of the scientific grouping of the letters,¹ of the distinction of case forms, numbers and so forth, and the elaboration of the system of Pāṇini, as well as the researches of the Prātiçākhyas prove the skill which was being developed in this period. The Nirukta of Yāska which falls in date at the close of the Brāhmaṇa period proves how considerable had been the advances made in regard to questions of etymology, the classification of the parts of speech (of which Yāska reckons four, nouns, verb, prepositions, and particles), and the nature of language.² The superiority of Indian achievement in this regard to that of contemporary Greece is manifest, but, on the other hand, there is extremely little evidence of any progress in regard to astronomy or mathematics, for we cannot accept the overestimates of the knowledge involved in the Çulba Sūtras, apart altogether from the doubt as to their date, and the fact of their serving essentially practical ends.³ Of natural science we know nothing at this period, and both in the Brāhmaṇas and the Upaniṣads the nature of the ideas current is incompatible with any progress in these matters in contemporary thought.⁴