FREE BOOKS

Author's List




PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115  
116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   >>   >|  
the munificent MARUTS, blowing upon their pipe, have conferred, when exhilarated by the _soma_ juice, desirable (gifts upon the sacrificer)! 11. They brought the crooked well to the place (where the _Muni_ was), and sprinkled the water upon the thirsty GOTAMA: the variously-radiant (MARUTS) come to his succour, gratifying the desire of the sage with life-sustaining waters! 12. Whatever blessings (are diffused) through the three worlds, and are in your gift, do you bestow upon the donor (of the libation), who addresses you with praise; bestow them, also, MARUTS, upon us, and grant us, bestowers of all good, riches, whence springs prosperity! If we investigate the antiquity of these hymns we shall find no definite and unimpeachable date. Their epoch is assigned on the score of internal evidence. The language is so much more archaic than that of the Institutes, and the mythology so much simpler; whilst the Institutes themselves are similarly circumstanced in respect to the Epics. Fixing these at about 200, B.C.; we allow so many centuries for the archaisms of Menu, and so many more for those of the Vedas. For the whole, eleven hundred has not been thought too little, which places the Vedas in the fourteenth century, B.C., and makes them the earliest, or nearly the earliest records in the world. It is clear that this is but an approximation, and, although all inquirers admit that creeds, languages, and social conditions present the phenomena of _growth_, the opinions as to the _rate_ of such growths are varied, and none of much value. This is because the particular induction required for the formation of anything better than a mere impression has yet to be undertaken--till when, one man's guess is as good as another's. The age of a tree may be reckoned from its concentric rings, but the age of a language, a doctrine, or a polity, has neither bark nor wood, neither teeth like a horse, nor a register like a child. Now the antiquity of the Vedas, as inferred from the archaic character of their language, has been shaken by the discovery of the structure of the Persepolitan dialect of the arrow-headed inscriptions. It approaches that of the Vedas; being, in some points, older than the Sanskrit of Menu. Yet its date is less than 500, B.C. Again, the Pali is less archaic than the Sanskrit; yet the Pali is the language of the oldest inscriptions in India, indeed, of the oldest I
PREV.   NEXT  
|<   91   92   93   94   95   96   97   98   99   100   101   102   103   104   105   106   107   108   109   110   111   112   113   114   115  
116   117   118   119   120   121   122   123   124   125   126   127   128   129   130   131   132   133   134   135   136   137   138   139   140   >>   >|  



Top keywords:
language
 

archaic

 

MARUTS

 

bestow

 

earliest

 
Institutes
 

antiquity

 

oldest

 

Sanskrit

 

inscriptions


opinions

 

growth

 

conditions

 

present

 
phenomena
 

points

 

growths

 
varied
 
social
 

records


century
 

inquirers

 
creeds
 

approximation

 

languages

 

discovery

 

shaken

 

character

 

inferred

 

reckoned


structure

 
Persepolitan
 
concentric
 

register

 

doctrine

 

polity

 

munificent

 

formation

 

induction

 

required


approaches

 

impression

 

fourteenth

 

dialect

 
headed
 

undertaken

 

sacrificer

 
worlds
 
blessings
 

diffused